Integrating patient education into family practice

Includes bibliographical references (pages 211-223)Patient education is a strategic factor in the improvement\ud and maintenance of health, prevention of disease, and reduction in\ud the consequences of illness. The concept that patient education is\ud an important responsibility of physicians and nurses in clinical\ud practice and, as such, should be an integral component of total\ud patient care has been gaining priority status in the training of\ud family practice residents.\ud This project entailed an attempt to integrate patient\ud education into the Family Practice Residency Program at General\ud Hospital Ventura County and was undertaken at the Family Care Center\ud of the Ventura County Health Care Agency. The focus of the project\ud was on the planning and preparation required prior to actual\ud implementation of a patient education program; actual implementation \ud was beyond the scope of the project.\ud A needs assessment consisting of the administration of three\ud survey instruments was conducted primarily to assess the present\ud status of patient education at the Family Care Center and to identify\ud patients' health education needs.\ud Following analysis of the needs assessment data, a 12 member\ud Patient Education Advisory Committee was formed which was comprised\ud of administrators, residents, nurses, a medical receptionist, and a\ud patient. The first task undertaken by the committee was the\ud establishment of a framework for patient education program development.\ud This framework consisted of a statement of philosophy, a patient\ud education policy statement, and a patient education advisory committee\ud protocol.\ud On the basis of the information obtained from the needs\ud assessment, the area selected for initial patient education program\ud development was that of "infants??? and children's health.??? Through\ud brainstorming and a series of ranking procedures utilizing a modified\ud Delphi technique, the advisory committee identified the program of\ud "basic infant care," and the module of "health promotion,'' as having\ud highest priority for immediate development. The investigator,\ud working in collaboration with the advisory committee, then developed\ud a curriculum to be used by residents and nurses for one-to-one\ud parent teaching at the time of both well-baby and sick-child office\ud visits. The curriculum consisted of 11 lesson plans relative to\ud infants two weeks to one year of age. These lesson plans were\ud concerned with temperature taking; guidelines for calling the \ud physician; immunizations; oral health; and home treatment measures\ud for fever, colds, vomiting and diarrhea, constipation, diaper rash,\ud and colic. Five schemes were prepared to help maximize the utility\ud of the curriculum. These included a conceptual scheme, an implementation\ud scheme, an in-service education scheme, an evaluation scheme,\ud and a revision and updating scheme. A Patient Education Care Plan to\ud be used for documenting parent teaching and evaluation tools for\ud assessing program effectiveness were also developed