Health Education

NCM 102

Week 1

Principles of Teaching and Learning

Overview of Education on Health Care

• Health education is a process concerned with designing, implementing and evaluating
educational programs that enable facilities, groups, organization and communities to
play active role in achieving, protecting and sustaining health.
• Health education is also defined and any combination of learning experiences designed
to facilitate voluntary adaptations of behavior conducive to health (Green et al., 1980).
• Its purpose is to contribute to health and well-being by promoting lifestyles, community
actions and conditions that make it possible to live healthful lives (The Code of Ethics for
Health Educators, Association for the Advancement of Health Education).

The Role of the Health Educator

• A health educator is “a professionally prepared individual who serves in a variety of
roles and is specifically trained to use appropriate educational strategies and methods
to facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems
conducive to the health of individuals, groups, and communities” (Joint Committee on
Terminology, 2001, p. 100).
• The Health Educator’s role is to help promote, enhance, and maintain the health of
others.

Historical Foundations for the Teaching Role of Nurse

EARLY 1900
Public Health Nurses in this country clearly understood the significance of the role of the
nurse as teacher in preventing disease and in maintaining the health of society.
Patient teaching has been recognized as an independent nursing function. Nurses have always
educated others – patient, families and colleagues. It is from these roots that nurses have
expanded their practice to include the broader concept of health and illness.
EARLY 1918
The National League of Nursing Education (NLNE) in the U.S. now the National League
for Nursing (NLN) observed the importance of health teaching as a function within the scope of
nursing practice.
Two decades later, this organization recognized nurses as agents for the promotion of
health and the prevention of illness in all settings which they practiced.
1950
The NLNE had identified course content in nursing school curricula to prepare nurses to
assume the role as teachers of others.
Present Day
All State Nurse Practice Acts (NPAs) include teaching within the scope of nursing
practice responsibilities. In here, nurses by legal mandate of the NPAs, are expected to provide
instruction to consumers to assist them to maintain optimal levels of wellness and manage
illness.
By teaching patients and families as well as health-care personnel, nurses can achieve
the professional goal of providing COST-EFFECTIVE, SAFE and HIGH-QUALITY CARE.
Most recently the NLN developed the 1st Certified Nurse Educator (CNE) examination
(National League for Nursing, 2006) to raise the “visibility and status of the academic nurse
educator role as an advanced professional practice discipline with a defined practice setting.”
American Nurse Association (ANA) has for years put forth statements on the function,
standards and qualifications for nursing practice, of which patient teaching is a key element.
International Council of Nurses (ICN) has long endorsed the nurses’ role as educator to be an
essential component of nursing care delivery.

Trends Impacting on Health Care

1. Social – demographic trends like aging of the population requires emphasis on self-
reliance and maintenance of a healthy life status over an extended lifespan particularly
dealing with degenerative diseases and disabilities; lifestyle-related diseases which are
the major causes of morbidity and mortality are highly preventable and will need more
intensive health education efforts.
2. Economic – the shifts in the payer coverage, emphasis on managed care and earlier
hospital discharge, and the issue on reimbursement for health services provided require
more intensive patient education to allow the patient and his family a more
independent, compliant and confident management of care.
3. Political – the development of effective health education programs which will create
awareness of health risks and encourage the adoption of healthy lifestyles. The role of
health education in promotion of health and prevention of illness in containing the cost
of hospitalization and healthcare expenses has already been recognized by politicians
and healthcare administrators.

Purposes, Goals, and Benefits of Client and Staff Education

• The purpose of patient education is to increase the competence and confidence of
clients for self-management.
 • The goal is to increase the responsibility and independence of clients for self-care. This
can be achieved by supporting patients through the transition from being invalids to
being self-sustaining in managing their own care.
• The single most important actions of nurses as caregivers is to prepare clients for self-
care (Glanville, 2000).
• The purpose of staff and student education is to increase the competence and
confidence of nurses to function independently in providing care to the consumer.
• Our primary aims, then, as educators should be to nourish clients, mentor staff, and
serve as teachers and clinical preceptors for nursing students.

Benefits of Clients
• Increase consumer satisfaction
• Improve quality of life
• Ensure continuity of care
• Decrease client anxiety
• Effectively reduce the complications of illness and the incidence of disease
• Promote adherence to treatment plans
• Maximize independence in the performance of ADL
• Energize and empower consumers to become actively involved in the planning of their
care
Importance of Health Education
1. Health Education EMPOWERS people to decide for themselves what options to choose
to enhance their quality of life.
2. Health education equips people with knowledge and competencies to prevent illness,
maintain health or apply first aid measures to prevent complications or premature
deaths and improves the health status of individuals, families, communities, states, and
nation.
3. Health education enhances the quality of life by promoting healthy lifestyles.
4. Health education creates awareness regarding the importance of preventive and
promotive care thereby avoiding or reducing the costs involved in medical treatment or
hospitalization

Concepts of Teaching, Learning, and Education

• Education process is a dynamic, sequential, logical, scientifically based, planned course
of action consisting of 2 major interdependent operations – the TEACHING and
LEARNING. Together, they jointly perform teaching and learning activities and the
outcome of which leads to mutually desired behavior changes. These changes foster
growth in the learner and, it should be acknowledged as corresponding growth in the
teacher as well.
• Teaching or Instruction – is merely one component of the education process. Whether
formal or informal, planned- well in advance or spontaneous, are nevertheless
deliberate and conscious acts with the objective of producing learning.
• Learning – a change in behavior (knowledge, skill, attitude) that can be observed or
measured and that can occur at any time or in any place as a result of exposure to
environmental stimuli.
• PATIENT EDUCATION is the process by which health professionals and others impart
information to patients and their caregivers that will alter their health behaviors or
improve their health status.
• Health education is a tool used by managed care plans, and may include both general
preventive education or health promotion and disease or condition specific education.
Important elements of patient education are skill building and responsibility: patients
need to know when, how, and why they need to make a lifestyle change. Group effort is
equally important: each member of the patient’s health care team needs to be involved.
https://www.definitions.net/definition/Patient%20education
• Staff Education – Teaching of nursing, medical, and other members of the health care
team, process of assisting staff to gain knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes for
maintaining an improving competencies.
 Health Education
NCM 102

Week 2
The Education Process

Comparison of the Nursing Process and the Education Process Similarities

1. Both consists of the basic elements of assessment, planning, implementation and
evaluation.
2. They are logical, scientifically-based frameworks for nursing processes providing for a
rational basis for nursing practice rather than an intuitive one.
3. Both are methods of monitoring and judging the overall quality of nursing interventions
based on objective data and scientific criteria.
Differences between Nursing Process and Education Process
1. Nursing process focuses on planning, and implementation of care based on assessment
and diagnosis of the patent's physical and psychosocial needs
2. While the education process identifies instructional content and methods based on an
assessment of the client’s learning needs, readiness to learn and learning styles;
3. Bases of outcomes:
• Nursing process: when the physical and psychological needs of the client are met
• Education process: when changes in knowledge, attitudes and skills occur.

Role of Nurse as Health Educator

• A health educator is “a professionally prepared individual who serves in a variety of
roles and is specifically trained to use appropriate educational strategies and methods
to facilitate the development of policies, procedures, interventions, and systems
conducive to the health of individuals, groups, and communities” (Joint Committee on
Terminology, 2001, p. 100).
• The Health Educator’s role is to help promote, enhance, and maintain the health of
others.
 Giver of Information
 Facilitator of Learning
 Coordinator of Teaching
 Client Advocate
• Giver of Information
 Communication is an integral to all nursing roles. Nurses communicate with the
client, support persons, other health professionals, and people in the
 community. In the role of communicator, nurses identify client problems and
then communicate these verbally or in writing to other members of the health
team. The quality of a nurse’s communication is an important factor in nursing
care.
• Facilitator of Learning
 As a teacher, the nurse helps clients learn about their health and the health care
procedures they need to perform to restore or maintain their health. The nurse
assesses the client’s learning needs and readiness to learn, sets specific learning
goals in conjunction with the client, enacts teaching strategies and measures
learning.
https://www.rnpedia.com/nursing-notes/fundamentals-in-nursing-notes/roles-
function-nurse/
• Coordinator of Teaching
 A nurse coordinator instructs staff members in order to help them provide
adequate patient care. He may, for example, instruct them in a variety of
procedures and inform them of possible complications that may arise. Often, a
nurse coordinator prepares staff evaluations as well. In some cases, a person
with this title may even help in the hiring and training of new staff members.
• Client advocate
 Client advocate acts to protect the client. In this role the nurse may represent
the client’s needs and wishes to other health professionals, such as relaying the
client’s wishes for information to the physician. They also assist clients in
exercising their rights and help them speak up for themselves.

Principles of Learning Applied to Client Teaching

• Learning is Unitary- as it aims one goal of gaining something out of the knowledge
learned.
• Learning is Self-Active
• Learning is Purposeful
• Learning is Individual
• Learning is Creative
• Learning is Transferrable

Common Principles of Learning

1. Use several senses.

 People retains 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they
see or watch, 50% of what they see and hear, 70% of what they say, and 90% of
what they say and do.
  This is the importance of the RLE (Related Learning Experience) which nursing
students undergo in the Nursing Skills Laboratory.
 By applying these skills and knowledge in the actual care of patients in the
hospital, this would be further reinforced by additional practice and review of
the principles and procedures resulting to 90% retention.
2. Actively involve the patients or client in the learning process.
 Use more interactive methods involving the participation of the learners like
role-playing, buzz sessions, Q & A format, case studies, small group discussion,
and demonstration and return demonstration.
3. Provide an environment conducive to learning.
 Always consider the comfort and convenience of the learner (room temperature,
the chairs and seating arrangements or space, noise level, adequate acoustics
and sound system and an environment that is clean, pleasant-smelling and
smoke and dust-free.
4. Assess the extent to which the learner is ready to learn.
 Readiness to learn is affected by factors like emotional status (anxiety, fear, and
depression) and physical conditions (pain, visual or auditory impairment,
anesthesia, etc.)
5. Determine the relevance of the information.
 Anything that is perceived by the learner to be important or useful will be easier
to learn and retain.
6. Repeat the information.
 Continuous repetition of information over a period of time enhances learning,
applying the information to a different situation or rewording it and giving
practical applications will help in the learning process
7. Generalize information.
 Cite applications of the information to a number of situations
 Give example which will illustrate or concretize the concept
8. Make learning a pleasant experience.
 Give frequent encouragement, recognize accomplishments and give positive
feedback.
9. Begin with what is known; move toward the unknown.
 I will be a pleasant and encouraging learning experience if information is
presented in an organized manner and with information that the learner already
knows or is familiar with.
10. Present information at an appropriate rate.
 This refers to the pace in which information is presented to the learner… are you
talking too fast so that the learner has a difficulty in catching up with what you
are saying or are you too slow because the learner is already knowledgeable
about the topic you are discussing?