Effective Patient Education

Patient education is a vital part of patient-centered nursing care. To promote learning and better health, the nurse utilizes the nursing process which includes: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation (Potter, Perry, Stockert & Hall, 2013, p. 206). First, a thorough assessment of the patient’s learning needs, readiness to learn, and any barriers to learning needs to be completed. With this information, a nursing diagnosis and goals can be established and a plan can be developed. After the plan has been made, the nurse will implement the plan, and evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching. Effective patient education improves the quality of care, reduces health care costs, improve patient outcomes and leads to overall
Discharge teaching includes medication regimen, lifting restrictions, movement restrictions, cervical collar use, signs and symptoms of infection, incision care and follow-up schedule. Oxycodone-acetaminophen (Percocet) is being used to manage the patient’s post-operative pain. The regular use of opioid analgesics can cause opioid induced constipation (Potter et al., 2013, p. 982). While educating the patient on proper pain management, it is equally important to provide information about how to prevent this common side effect. All the learning needs of this patient are essential to his recovery. While completing a physical assessment on the patient, he requested more information about the correct way to put on his cervical collar. This teaching plan is focused on the proper use of the cervical collar to stabilize the patient’s neck which will facilitate the proper fusion of his
By asking the patient to share what he already knows, I will build on the patient’s existing knowledge which will increase the effectiveness of the teaching (Potter et al., 2013, p. 340). The cervical collar helps to facilitate the bone fusion process by maintaining alignment of the neck (Lewis, Dirkson, Heitkemper, & Bucher, 2014, p. 1550). A Vista Cervical Collar was placed on patient’s neck immediately following the surgical procedure and will need to remain in place until the patient’s first post-operative appointment (in four weeks). Until the follow-up appointment, the Vista Collar should only be removed when the patient showers. The surgeon has ordered a soft Philadelphia collar to be used when the patient showers. To begin presenting the information, I will use the manufacture’s patient handbook as a visual aid and discuss the details of how to remove the collar, how to care for the collar and how to reapply the