One easy method is to post these on Twitter. Because you are spreading information and not details about a specific person’s medical condition, loss of privacy is not risked. If you get a question from a reader, you can answer in a private way, rather than on this public forum of Twitter.

Wondering how this would look? The Emily Center at Phoenix Children’s Hospital is the the most comprehensive pediatric health library in the Southwest, providing materials about child health, injury, and illness. It serves everyone in Arizona, without charge. Every day, The Emily Center posts a link to timely health information from @emilycenter You can see these tweets on Twitter, without signing up, by going to www.twitter.com/emilycenter

If you use a service like Tweetdeck, you can schedule tweets to be sent at a later date and time (www.tweetdeck.com). So to have an active presence, you don’t have to get on Twitter every day. However, it’s good to check your tweets regularly, just in case there’s a response or question.

Spreading quality health information yourself may prove to save you time, in the long run. If your patients get their information from good sources, they are less likely to come to you with inaccurate or unproven information than you then have to take time to discuss.

Unless the patient does what is necessary, our treatments may not work.
Why aren’t assessment, teaching, and evaluation of understanding our highest priorities?

Patient education has two levels:
(1) providing information in ways that are understood, and
(2) helping learners apply that information to life.

We can easily find out if the patient understood the information by using teach back and return demonstration. We can help learners apply information by finding out what the challenge is, and helping them address it, pulling in all the collaborative, interdisciplinary resources available. We can’t fix everything, but we can certainly make progress if we place our efforts appropriately.

Quality patient education can help address many of health care’s problems:
— chronic illnesses that could be prevented with lifestyle changes
— adherence to medications and treatments
— self-dosing errors
— delays in accessing care, resulting in higher acuity
— patient’s perception of quality of care

Individualized patient education may not solve all our problems, but it could certainly move outcomes toward the direction of health. More research would hone us in on the most effective and efficient interventions for specific situations.

There’s not much we have to teach, actually:
— answer their questions
— information to ensure informed consent
— self-care skills
— how to recognize problems and how to respond

And then, by following-up with methods tailored to that individual patient, we need to help promote behavior changes that improves health outcomes. Some may need reminders, some financial assistance, and others, a boost in the sense of self-efficacy. It all depends.

I wonder if patient education is too simple and too obvious to get the respect it deserves. Yes, it takes a little time. But lots of research shows it’s very effective for the time it takes.

Consider how poor our outcomes would be if we provided medicine without explaining what it’s for and how to take it. Or if we sent home a patient after surgery and did not teach the signs of infection and how to respond if they should occur. Teaching is an essential part of care. We know that.

So why is patient education often an afterthought?

Are we really in the business of improving health outcomes?

©(2011) Fran London, MS, RN

Why not communicate with other patient educators around the country . . . and the world. . . through a listserve? A listserve is simply a list of email addresses to which the same information is being sent. In the case of an electronic listserve, anyone who signs up (subscribes) gets the emails sent to that one email address. Respond to that one email address, and everyone signed up sees your response.

One listserve I’m active on is PatEdNet, the Patient Education Network. I’ve gotten quick responses to my questions. It’s really a great resource. And it will give you an opportunity to share your expertise and experience, too!

To Subscribe – Send Email to sympa@lists.hsc.utah.edu
Subject: SUB patednet email address here
(Ex: SUB patednet kathy.ordelt@choa.org )

PatEdNet: https://lists.hsc.utah.edu/wws/info/patednet

To Send A Message – patednet@lists.hsc.utah.edu

To Unsubscribe – Send Email to sympa@lists.hsc.utah.edu
Subject: UNS patednet email address here

Source: The Health Care Education Association

http://www.hcea-info.org/html/listserves.html

One way I’m using Twitter is to link to recent research relating to patient and family education. For example, here are Tweets I have scheduled to appear in the coming week:

http://tinyurl.com/27cz654 Relationship between treatment adherence and clinical outcomes in patients on maintenance hemodialysis. #nursing

http://tinyurl.com/2fyxueo Addressing patients’ concerns about pain management and addiction risks. #patienteducation #nursing #healthcare

http://tinyurl.com/2fzkope No, you need a conversation to ensure understanding. #healthliteracy #evidencebasedmedicine #healthcare

http://tinyurl.com/27o5jwt Patients’ beliefs about the cause of their depression: only 3.6% stated biological reasons. #patienteducation

http://tinyurl.com/235oroy Comprehensive discussions about chronic medications are uncommon in routine practice. #evidencebasedmedicine

http://tinyurl.com/2embdxo Health literacy screening questions can be used to triage patients at risk for not reading. #healthliteracy #pted

http://tinyurl.com/29ckgvs Postoperative patient education: what type of approach and mode, and at what dose? #patienteducation #surgery

Are you using Twitter now? If so, follow me @notimetoteach. Let me know what your Twitter handle is, too, so I can follow you.

If you want to learn more about Twitter, you can download the booklet, Twitter for Beginners from http://socialmediadiyworkshop.com/2010/02/ebook-twitter-for-beginners/

Suddenly, I felt like I had a functional literacy problem. I understood the word “native.” I understood the word “files.” But I had no idea what a “native file” was. I didn’t even have a guess. I did not want to make a mistake, so I emailed the requestor and asked for a definition. I got a polite and helpful response.

For those of you who don’t know, when they said “no native files” they actually meant “send files in the PDF format.” (Or, I learned later from a friend, maybe a JPG would qualify.) A native file is a file that is still in the format of the program in which it was created, like a Word document or a Keynote slide show.

In this situation, I may have experienced what some of our patients sometimes feel like. The words sound familiar, but they have no idea what we are talking about. They have no idea what they are supposed to do. They don’t want to make a mistake — especially if it could physically hurt them. But it’s hard to admit you don’t understand, especially when it’s presented in a way that implies, “Of course you understand this. It’s simple.”

Another reason to ask patients to teach back what we teach them.

©2010 Fran London

http://www.guidelines.gov/resources/patient-education.aspx

You see the risk for lack of follow-up. How can you intervene?
Ask the patient to take our his or her cell phone, and enter the telephone number in it now. This both ensures the patient has the number, and reinforces the importance of continuing care.

Then let the technology do more of the work! Rather than looking for information, have it come to you. Last November I described RSS feeds and how to use them (What is that RSS orange box for?). In March I told you how to get RSS feeds and email updates from a number of federal government sites (Stay ahead of your patients).

Now here’s another suggestion. What topic do you care about? Diabetes? Heart disease? Health literacy? Patient education? The use of social networking in health care delivery? You can have Google search the Internet on that topic for you automatically, and send you regular updates.
— Go to www.google.com/alerts
— Enter your search term
— Choose the types of sites you want searched, such as just “news” or “everything.”
— Choose how often you want updates.
— Choose the length of the email you want to receive.
— Enter the email address where you want the updates to be sent.

Then all you have to do is check your email when you get a chance, scan it for something that suits your needs, and click on the link for details. If you find many of the sites it pulls are not appropriate, redefine your search terms. And, if you find your interests change, just discontinue that alert. Another free, easy, helpful, effective, and efficient use of technology.

This is an easy-to-read booklet for patients to help them care for themselves when they leave the hospital. This guide provides a way for them to track their medication schedules, upcoming medical appointments, and important phone numbers. It has cues and blanks for information the patient needs to know to optimize self-care after discharge. It can be used by both hospital staff and patients during the discharge process.

Every patient should bring a copy of this to the hospital. Planned hospitalization? Getting ready for surgery? Pack this in your bag.

Your patient doesn’t have one? Here’s where you can get it: http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/goinghomeguide.htm