Educating Patients: Creating Teaching Moments in Practice
96
Healthcare Communication Programme, n.d.; Wirth, 2017). Involvement of the patient is crucial for developing rapport and successful teach- ing. Ensuring a patient is comfortable and can hear, see, and understand what the healthcare professional is saying or show- ing is important. Explanations are need- ed throughout a conversation, including the purpose of the discussion and any rationale as appropriate. Healthcare pro- fessionals should ask permission prior to doing anything with or to patients. Addi- tionally, sharing thought processes with patients further involves them and builds confidence (Maryniak, 2019; National Healthcare Communication Programme, n.d.; Wirth, 2017). Open-ended questions are important to use when communicating with and teaching patients. Closed-ended ques- tions only encourage a yes or no an- swer. Many patients, when asked if they understand information, will answer yes. However, this doesn’t confirm there is any actual comprehension, and if there is comprehension, to what degree it exists. Closed-ended questions also can have a dismissive feel, so the discussion may be cut short. Using open-ended ques- tions invites patients to talk more, which provides a clearer picture for healthcare professionals. Using open verbiage is also vital for a question-and-answer dialogue. If the healthcare professional asks, “Do you have any questions?” the likelihood is that the patient will respond that they do not. They may not know what to ask or feel that they are wasting time. A strong question for healthcare professionals to ask is “What questions do you have for me?” This implies a continued discussion, and patients are free to ask questions (AHRQ, 2020b; Maryniak, 2019; National
Healthcare Communication Programme, n.d.). Demonstrating empathy is powerful when building strong relationships be- tween healthcare professionals and pa- tients. Patients associate empathy with caring, vigilance, mutuality, and healing. For empathy to be successful, recogniz- ing the patient’s emotions is important. Healthcare professionals need to identify the feeling and asking will help to clarify if the emotion is correct. Acknowledging the patient’s feelings helps them feel vali- dated. The action of empathy is not to fix a problem associated with the emotion, but rather to connect, explore the feeling, and try to understand where the patient is coming from (Maryniak, 2019; National Healthcare Communication Programme, n.d.). Health literacy assessments Many patient assessments are needed to determine appropriate teaching strat- egies. Assessment of the patient’s health literacy is essential for deciding the level of conversation, reference materials, and resources. The Agency for Healthcare Re- search and Quality (AHRQ) is one source that has developed effective health liter- acy assessment tools that healthcare pro- fessionals can use (AHRQ, 2019). One tool is the Short Assessment of Health Literacy (SAHL), which is available in both English and Spanish. With this tool, the healthcare professional presents a set of words for the patient. Prior to the test, the patient is instructed that they will be shown cards with three words on each card. The patient must read the first word out loud and decide which of the words that follow is more like the top word, as- sociating healthcare terms with one an- other. The patients can also respond with “I don’t know.” A correct answer for each
Powered by FlippingBook