Evaluation of a Patient Education Tool - Essay Example

? Evaluation of a Patient Education Tool Evaluation of a Patient Education Tool Patient education is an essential component in the provision of information services in many hospitals and health organizations. Many hospitals and health organizations author, review and approve the patient information for use within their institution and make this information digitally accessible. Patient education activities focus on the educational and information needs of the patient and is used by health care professionals to provide patient care support. This paper will discuss patient handouts as a patient education tool and particularly the heart attack handout listed under the diseases and conditions handouts. This is an example of a patient education handout useful to nurses and other health care professionals. The source of the patient education handout is the PERC (Patient Education Reference Center) from EBSCO publishing. The heart attack patient handout is an online tutorial suitable for the educational needs of all people (Freda, 2002). The heart attack patient handout has been designed into several sections and sub-sections with each of the sections presenting clear and concise content about heart attacks. The handout presents the definition of a heart attack, causes, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and prevention. These sections and the relevant sub-sections are well explained in a brief and easy to understand format. The handout is appropriate for adults in general including heart attack patients, nurses and other health care professionals and any other person seeking preventive measures for heart attacks. The heart attack patient handout has been written using the 7th grade reading level. Though the readability level of the heart attack patient handout may be high compared to other printable sources with less detail like pamphlets or fact sheets; the handout is easy to navigate because of its brief nature. The ease of reading in this particular handout is also boosted with the use of step-by-step instructions and medical instructions (Holly & sharp, 2013). As an educational tool, the heart attack patient handout can be said to be culturally appropriate. The main reason being that it provides evidence-based patient handouts that can be customized, printed and given to a patient by nurses and health care professionals. PERC handouts provide readability ease such as medical illustrations and are available in multiple languages. Therefore, these handouts are suitable for use in several cultural contexts because they are customizable and available in multiple languages. The most exciting thing about the heart attack education handout is the simple, concise and easily understandable way of its content. The handout is easy to read, has clear illustrations and step-by-step instructions about a heart attack. It’s a complete and simple guide for a heart attack patient and for any other individual seeking information relating to heart conditions. It also points out the need to schedule and attend periodic with medical providers or cardiac specialists. That is why it is provided as a supplement of face-to-face teaching and care by health care professionals. One of the advantages of using patient handouts is the fact that it enables nurses and other medical care professionals provide high quality care. Patients and any other person seeking information on heart attacks are able to access patient handouts which are evidence-based and cover all aspects of heart attacks. In addition, they also cover failures including prevention, procedures, discharge instructions, drug information among other useful information. Therefore, the heart attack patient handout is a very effective educational tool for a more general audience. On the other hand, there are also disadvantages of using patient handouts for educational purposes. For instance, a patient may not be interested or bother to refer to the handout. Patient handouts are designed for use by health professionals for patient reference at home. However, some patients may prefer to stick with the help they get when face to face with healthcare professionals. At the same time, the handouts may not cover all the educational needs of a patient. A perfect example is a condition or disease may not be well explained like in a book. Health professionals may also take the initiative to distribute handouts in the streets but many people do not want to be bothered and others simply do not see the importance of such handouts. Therefore, this causes barriers in using heart attack handouts and other patient handouts in clinical practice. To increase the effectiveness of a heart attack patient handout inpatient or family education, there is need for follow-up by health professionals and organizing training to reinforce information provided in the handouts. PERC is the source of the heart attack patient handout. PERC is a very reliable source which provides evidence-based information through useful healthcare related reference resources. Content in PERC is reviewed and updated on an annual basis by the Medical Review Board. In addition its content is periodically updated by EBSCO DynaMed Literature Surveillance findings. The Dynamed Editorial Team performs daily literature surveillance of 500 journals and generates reports on the most significant research. All content in PERC is reviewed ad updated on a regular basis through a rigorous systematic surveillance of available literature. Content is available in both English and Spanish and materials are written using the 3rd-7th grade reading level. PERC features have a collection of current patient information which is evidence-based and also education information for health care professionals to print and distribute at the point of care. The handouts provided in PERC include illustrations, are easy to read and are structured in a way that enhances the knowledge and understanding of the material by patients. PERC handouts educate patients about all aspects of the care process including procedures and lab tests, wellness and prevention, discharge instructions and patient-friendly drug information. The PERC Editorial Team reviews the reports each week and updates all applicable content affected by these reports. This ensures that content in PERC captures both significant and current research being conducted in medicine today. PERC is also EBSCO published. EBSCOhost which is a very comprehensive scholarly database that provides peer reviewed content. PERC content has been reviewed by other experts from the medical field for its effectiveness as a clinical reference service. Several studies and reviews have identified PERC as the most current evidence-based point-of-care reference database (Patient Education and Reference Center, 2010). The main purpose of the heart attack patient education handout as an educational tool is to improve a patient’s health and quality of life. It is an extension of medical care and improves adherence to prescribed behaviors by reinforcing a patient’s skill, knowledge, values or choices related to heart conditions. Information in a heart attack patient handout can become an effective marketing tool for a heart attack institution. Heart attack patients may easily forget spoken messages and therefore a heart attack patient handout serves as reinforcement and reduces the need to remember spoken instructions or to guess forgotten meanings. Some of the strengths of heart attack patient handouts are as follows: Can be easily understood. Heart attack patients are more likely to read instructions that are easy to understand and more likely to follow them Easily accessible information. Information on heart attack can be made more easily accessible by including it on items that are regularly used by heart attack patients such as reference cards, calendars among others. Quick reference. Patients may not remember all information and therefore a heart attack patient handout provides information that can be read again when necessary Appropriate for patient’s needs. Heart attack patient handouts provide information that is necessary to direct and promote self care among patients Heart attack patient handouts supplement other information given to a patient by other forms of communication such as audio-visual materials, one-on-one teaching and other reading materials. Heart attack patients can easily form an opinion of their caregivers from the heart attack handouts. These handouts communicate both the instructions a patient should follow and also how important the message and the patient are to the caregiver One of the disadvantages of using a heart attack patient education handout as an educational tool is that sometimes it may be difficult to develop an effective patient handout. This becomes a barrier of meeting the educational needs of a patient. Caregivers may not have the necessary training or time to write instructions that patients will understand clearly and closely follow. Writing heart attack instructions requires a caregiver to be highly creative and sensitive use of language, illustrations and general graphic design to make the handout appropriate for several audiences. Another disadvantage of presenting heart attack information through handouts is that a patient may prefer lengthy details about heart conditions that is usually found in books or journals. The handouts will therefore fully meet the educational needs of the patient. A heart attack patient handout usually records descriptive information about a heart disease and also presents the advice given by caregivers. Therefore, patient handouts are useful in clinical practice. There is a possibility that patient education handouts can be effective enough to be thought of as a form of “bibliotherapy” (Patient Education and Reference Center, 2010). In conclusion, the production of patient education handouts such as the heart attack education handout is an effective initiative in providing inclusive medical care. Patient handouts give patients an opportunity to participate fully in medical care by supplementing the face-to-face instructions given to them by health care professionals. Patient handouts should be customized to meet the educational and information needs of the patients. That is why healthcare professionals need to have the necessary qualities, skills and techniques in order to prepare effective handouts tailored towards the needs of the patients. References Freda, M, C. (2002). Perinatal Patient Education: A Practical Guide With Education Handouts for Patients. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. HLWIKI International. (2013). Canadian consumer health information (CHI) portal. Retrieved 07:40, April 11, 2013 from http://hlwiki.slais.ubc.ca/index.php?title=Canadian_consumer_health_information_(CHI)_portal&oldid=118127. Holly, D., & Sharp, j. (N.d.). Addressing health inequities: coronary heart disease training within learning disabilities services - Holly - 2013 - British Journal of Learning Disabilities - Wiley Online Library. Wiley Online Library. Retrieved April 12, 2013, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bld.12014/abstract;jsessionid=F4088D998EEDA352180656CFB3F66F21.d01t02?deniedAccessCustomisedMessage=&userIsAuthenticated=false Patient Education and Reference Center. (2010). Nursing Resources from EBSCO. Retrieved from http://www.ebscohost.com/nursing/products/patient-education-reference-center. Read More