Time-saving teaching techniques
Time-saving teaching techniques
In today's health care climate, diabetics who are admitted to the hospital are very ill and often cannot absorb a lot of information. Yet, with short hospital stays, it is not possible to wait for the patient to get well enough to learn, says Jane Goetz, director of education at San Bernardino County Medical Center in San Bernardino, CA.
To remedy this problem, patients are given a few basic facts as an inpatient. Staff then build on that foundation during post-hospitalization visits.
Visits often are scheduled within one week of hospitalization, explains Goetz. In the meantime, patients have written materials to review at home that help reinforce what was taught in the hospital or refresh their memory.
Searching for ways to help nurses beat the clock and find the time to teach has become a top priority at many health care facilities. Here are a few suggestions:
4 Have other disciplines share the teaching.
Incorporating other disciplines into the teaching process can save time. When a patient needs dietary information, a dietitian can be called, says Beatrice Wolf, RN, CS, MSN, CDE, clinical educator at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA. However, nurses must reinforce the teaching throughout the hospital stay, she says.
4 Create streamlined forms for quick teaching and documentation.
At Sacred Heart, teaching sheets for some diagnoses have been created, including diabetes. These sheets list what the nurse needs to teach and provide areas for quick documentation of the teaching. (See documentation sheet examples, pp. 58-59.). A sheet that prompts nurses to quickly identify preferred learning methods, educational barriers, and learning needs helps streamline patient education as well, says Wolf.
4 Identify barriers to learning.
Identifying barriers to learning is a big time-saver, says Wolf. Rather than waste time teaching a patient who is too sick to learn, a family member can be taught. "Before we identify what topics need to be taught, we review all the barriers to learning," says Wolf.
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