Patient education allows patients to play a bigger role in their own care. It also aligns with patient- and family-centered care.
To be effective, patient education needs to be more than instructions and information. Teachers and health care providers need to be able to assess patient needs and communicate clearly.
The success of patient education depends largely on how well you assess your patient's:
- Needs
- Concerns
- Readiness to learn
- Preferences
- Support
- Barriers and limitations (such as physical and mental capacity, and low health literacy or numeracy)
Often, the first step is to find out what the patient already knows. Use these guidelines to do a thorough assessment before starting patient education:
- Gather clues. Talk to the health care team members and observe the patient. Be careful not to make assumptions. Patient teaching based on incorrect assumptions may not be very effective and may take more time. Find out what the patient wants to know or take away from your meeting.
- Get to know your patient. Introduce yourself and explain your role in your patient's care. Review their medical record and ask basic get-to-know-you questions.
- Establish a rapport. Make eye contact when appropriate and help your patient feel comfortable with you. Pay attention to the patient's concerns. Sit down near the patient.
- Gain trust. Show respect and treat each patient with compassion and without judgment.
- Determine your patient's readiness to learn. Ask your patients about their outlooks, attitudes, and motivations.
- Learn the patient's perspective. Talk to the patient about worries, fears, and possible misconceptions. The information you receive can help guide your patient teaching.
- Ask the right questions. Ask if the patient has concerns, not just questions. Use open-ended questions that require the patient to reveal more details. Listen carefully. The patient's answers will help you learn the person's core beliefs. This will help you understand the patient's motivation and let you plan the best ways to teach.
- Learn about the patient's skills. Find out what your patient already knows. You may want to use the teach-back method (also called the show-me method or closing the loop) to figure out what the patient may have learned from other providers. The teach-back method is a way to confirm that you have explained the information in a way that the patient they understand by asking them to act as if teaching it to you. Also, find out what skills the patient may still need to develop.
- Involve others. Ask if the patient wants other people involved with the care process. It is possible that the person who volunteers to be involved in your patient's care may not be the person your patient prefers to be involved with. Learn about the support available to your patient.
- Identify barriers and limitations. You may perceive barriers to education, and the patient may confirm them. Some factors, such as low health literacy or numeracy may be more subtle and harder to recognize.
- Take time to establish rapport. Do a comprehensive assessment. It is worth it because your patient education efforts will be more effective.
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Bukstein DA. Patient adherence and effective communication. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2016;117(6):613-619. PMID: 27979018 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27979018/.
Gilligan T, Coyle N, Frankel RM, et al. Patient-clinician communication: American Society Of Clinical Oncology consensus guideline. J Clin Oncol. 2017;35(31):3618-3632. PMID: 28892432 pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28892432/.
Updated by: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
What patients don’t know about their prescription medications can hurt them.
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans take a prescription drug, while about 21% of them regularly take 3 or more prescription medications.
Pharmacists can promote patient safety by making sure that patients know the ins and outs of their medications, which can reduce preventable harm and medication errors.
Specifically, pharmacists can help patients learn the following about their medications.
1. Understand What Medications They Are Taking and Why
Nearly half of US adults have trouble understanding their medications’ instructions, according to the Institute of Medicine. Pharmacists can play a major role in helping patients understand why their medicines are necessary.
Common mistakes that patients make with respect to their medications include forgetting the initials following the drug’s name (“XR” for extended release or “LA” for long-acting) and not knowing whether they are taking the brand name or a generic version.
Pharmacists can clear this confusion by engaging patients in interactive conversations that can help them increase their health literacy level.
Notably, the teenage population has a particularly low level of understanding about how their medications work. Studies have shown that an alarming 50% of teens aren’t properly educated on OTC medications, so pharmacists should interact with parents to make sure that they are aware of their children’s medication regimens.
2. Know How and When to Take Their Medications
While most Americans recognize the importance of taking prescribed medication as directed, those who skip or forget doses are less likely to understand the health consequences of nonadherence.
Patients need to be aware of their medication’s dosage, timing of administration, and intended length of therapy, as well as whether it needs to be taken with food.
Pharmacists can play a key role in making sure patients understand their medications, especially during transitions of care. For example, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and their caregivers should be able to demonstrate proper inhaler technique at the time of discharge.
3. Recognize Side Effects and Know What to Do If They Occur
Side effects can range from strange, to disgusting, to scary, so patients need to be aware of what to look for. It is also important for patients to understand the difference between a drug’s side effect and an avoidable drug-drug interaction with adverse effects.
Pharmacists should make sure that they are aware of all possible side effects, especially for drugs with black box warnings.
4. Understand the Dangers of Sharing Medications
Because different individuals can react differently to the same medication, it is important for pharmacists to emphasize just how dangerous it is for a patient to share his or her medications.
Medication sharing is especially prevalent among adolescent and young adult patients. A survey revealed that 71% of college students believe that sharing prescription drugs is somewhat or very common among their acquaintances. Of the students who had shared or knew of shared prescription medications, 50% reported sharing of pain medications, 38% reported sharing of amphetamines, and 41% reported sharing of muscle relaxants.
5. Learn How to Save Money on Medications
Pharmacists can help patients save some cash each time they approach the pharmacy counter.
According to drug pricing research firm Truveris, the cost of generic medications overall increased by 5% in 2014, though more extreme surges were seen when the data was broken down by therapeutic area. Medical conditions that saw the largest increases in generic drug prices included muscle pain and stiffness (31.9%), inflammation (31.7%), heart disease (23.7%), acne (18.1%), and infections (11.8%).
Pharmacists can help patients lower their medication costs by:
· Offering to process the prescription without going through insurance.
· Performing a medication review to eliminate the possibility of polypharmacy and unnecessary drugs.
· Encouraging patients to fill 90-day prescriptions.
· Dispensing a generic version of a brand-name drug, if available.
· Advising the patient to safely split pills when appropriate.