Staff Education on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Self-Management Using Teach-Back

Exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the leading cause of hospital admissions and an estimated 120,000 deaths among older adults in the United States. In the community health clinic that served as the project site, more than 80% of patients with a COPD diagnosis had frequent exacerbations, with a hospital readmission rate of 23.2%, which was higher than the national benchmark of 21%. The clinic did not have a COPD discharge education plan with a teach-back tool for staff to teach patients. The purpose of the project was to develop an evidence-based COPD educational packet for staff on self-management using the teach-back method and an evidence-based COPD educational plan for patient self-management. Guided by Orem\u27s self-care theory and Rosswurm and Larrabee\u27s model of evidence-based practice, the project focused on whether the literature supported the use of the teach-back method of teaching for COPD self-management. Participants reviewed the packet and evaluated the content using a Likert-type scale with 1 =strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree. Ninety percent of the clinic\u27s stakeholders and staff agreed/strongly agreed to all factors evaluated, and the educational packet was recommended for use on the unit. The teach-back method and educational packet for COPD might bring about positive social change by decreasing exacerbations, improving health-related quality of life, and improving stewardship of healthcare investments thus improving the human condition