Already the issue of the study changed by placing the nurse in a dual role of "speaker" and "listener" as well as the dual role of the patient as "listener' and "speaker". The dual roles allow the nurse to evaluate barriers to the information provided that might hinder a patient's personal health care literacy.
Study objectives include:
Background Information
1. Define health care literacy/illiteracy
2. Develop an annotated bibliography of current medical profession initiatives for the promotion of health care literacy.
3. Use The Fifth Vital Sign and REALM as a class project in a non HIPPA/IRB situation.
Compliance with 2009 Joint Commission Patient Safety Goals by promoting effective communication among caregivers and stimulating patient (and family) involvement.
4.. Survey practicing nurses regarding their adaption methods to individualize their patient teaching following role-playing exercises.
5. Develop a Story Board self-education packet promoting improved nurse/patient communication to be used in a hospital setting.
Examining compliance to the 2009 Patient Safety Goal Safe Use of Anticoagulants
6. Make a textual analysis of frequently utilized educational brochures and information sheets for Coumadin, one commonly prescribed anticoagulant.
I have research material and preliminary dialogue with practitioners in the fields of nursing, literacy, sociology, and public health.
I am expanding my bibliography base into nurse specific research-based literature.
I have developed a plan to administer the FVS and am awaiting the REALM Kit to proceed.
I was going to use SMOG for measuring the gobbledygook in the textual analysis, but following Dr. K's recommendation I will be looking at the information through a Technical Writing Graphic evaluation as well as following Dr.D. suggestion for checking out "Lexile".
Two situations peaked my interest in this study that may provide entry anecdotal entry into any write up of my study. One was the method information was given to my 23 year old son with learning disabilities. The other was overhearing colleagues "educate" patients. I believe we, as nurses, can do better in educating patients while allowing them to participate in their health care. Knowledge, choices, and reason all center around a health care literacy that clarifies what the problem is, what needs to be known, and what happens if guidelines are not followed.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thoughts Post Dr. K. meeting
CLARIFICATION OF THE USE OF THIS BLOG: TO JOURNAL THOUGHTS, RESEARCH, AND FOCUS.
Thanks to Dr. Dean Schillinger for coining the phrase "closing the loop" based on the "teach back method" used in the field of education.
What came to the forefront after my meeting with Dr. K. is the realization that I will have to remain focused. I will have to evaluate my information as what is interesting for examination at a later time, and what is essential for this study.
The main questions centers around understanding and efficiency of information disseminated by the nurse to the patient.
I will add the following caveats:
1. this independent study assumes adequacy of staffing ratios and time allotted for education within the hospital setting (I acknowledge that practicing nurses recognize the day to day variances in staffing and duties that can hinder education teaching)
2. this study assumes compliance with accepted standards of practice where physicians, Registered Nurses, or delegated other discipline representatives (Registered Dietitians, Diabetic Educators, etc) provide the initial education and the Licensed Practical Nurse provides re-enforcement. This clarification complies with scopes of practice as defined by PA State Board of Nursing.
3. Further, this study will NOT examine lack of compliance due to financial considerations. That topic is beyond the scope of this independent study. I leave that discussion to those outside the nurse-patient-education paradigm.
A combination of rhetorical and compositional evaluation of how the nurse and patient put together all the "pieces of information" that hopefully will allow for optimal health care literacy that maintains, improves, and explains an individual patient's specific health care needs.
Hopefully the blog will be a way to summarize my research to date and discuss future steps as well as evaluating what has been completed and what has not been completed.
Thanks to Dr. Dean Schillinger for coining the phrase "closing the loop" based on the "teach back method" used in the field of education.
What came to the forefront after my meeting with Dr. K. is the realization that I will have to remain focused. I will have to evaluate my information as what is interesting for examination at a later time, and what is essential for this study.
The main questions centers around understanding and efficiency of information disseminated by the nurse to the patient.
I will add the following caveats:
1. this independent study assumes adequacy of staffing ratios and time allotted for education within the hospital setting (I acknowledge that practicing nurses recognize the day to day variances in staffing and duties that can hinder education teaching)
2. this study assumes compliance with accepted standards of practice where physicians, Registered Nurses, or delegated other discipline representatives (Registered Dietitians, Diabetic Educators, etc) provide the initial education and the Licensed Practical Nurse provides re-enforcement. This clarification complies with scopes of practice as defined by PA State Board of Nursing.
3. Further, this study will NOT examine lack of compliance due to financial considerations. That topic is beyond the scope of this independent study. I leave that discussion to those outside the nurse-patient-education paradigm.
A combination of rhetorical and compositional evaluation of how the nurse and patient put together all the "pieces of information" that hopefully will allow for optimal health care literacy that maintains, improves, and explains an individual patient's specific health care needs.
Hopefully the blog will be a way to summarize my research to date and discuss future steps as well as evaluating what has been completed and what has not been completed.
Monday, January 19, 2009
"Closing the Loop": Promoting Healthcare Literacy
This blog will become a journal of my journey to discover a method of communication clarity of health care information that can be used by Nurses. Specifically, I will look at how connections can be made between the responsibility of the Nurse as "speaker as well as listener" and the responsibility of the patient as "listener as well as speaker".
Because of my 35 years experience as a nurse and my exposure to the on-going attempts of my colleagues to provide clear, useful, and relevant information, I hope to place the NURSE as one of the most important front line communicators.
I hope to examine the following questions:
Is the nurse clear, logical, and thorough in the presentation of medical information?
Have barriers to learning been identified, adapted, and addressed?
Is there a way for the nurse to evaluate the patent's response to the discussion of the information?
How can the Nurse ensure the information given is incorporated into the personal health care literacy of the patient?
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES)
about 1 in 20 adults in the US is not literate in English
11 million Americans lack the skills to handle many everyday tasks
Literacy is learned
Learning the visual, written, and numerical skills of health care management allows patients to make informed choices regarding their health. Nurses are often on the frontline of providing information.
I believe the information a Nurse provides for a Patient allows for a literacy that enables entry into a dialogue of the personal, private, and public worlds of health care.
These will be some of the questions, research, and observations of my journey.
Because of my 35 years experience as a nurse and my exposure to the on-going attempts of my colleagues to provide clear, useful, and relevant information, I hope to place the NURSE as one of the most important front line communicators.
I hope to examine the following questions:
Is the nurse clear, logical, and thorough in the presentation of medical information?
Have barriers to learning been identified, adapted, and addressed?
Is there a way for the nurse to evaluate the patent's response to the discussion of the information?
How can the Nurse ensure the information given is incorporated into the personal health care literacy of the patient?
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES)
about 1 in 20 adults in the US is not literate in English
11 million Americans lack the skills to handle many everyday tasks
Literacy is learned
Learning the visual, written, and numerical skills of health care management allows patients to make informed choices regarding their health. Nurses are often on the frontline of providing information.
I believe the information a Nurse provides for a Patient allows for a literacy that enables entry into a dialogue of the personal, private, and public worlds of health care.
These will be some of the questions, research, and observations of my journey.
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