Overview of Education in

Health Care

The World ​Health​ Organization defined ​Health Education​ as "comprising of

consciously constructed opportunities for learning involving some form of
communication designed to improve ​health​ literacy, including improving
knowledge, and developing life skills which are conducive to individual and
community ​health​."

What is health education and why is it important?

Health education builds students' knowledge, skills, and positive ​attitudes​ about health.
Health education teaches about physical, mental, emotional and social health. It
motivates students to improve and maintain their health, prevent disease, and reduce
risky behaviors.

Evolution of the teaching role of nurses

Health education has long been considered a standard caregiving role of the
nurse.

Patient teaching is recognized as an independent nursing function.

∙ Nursing practice has expanded to include education in the broad concepts of
health and illness.

Evolution of the teaching role of nurses (cont’d)

∙ American Hospital Association (AHA)
Patient’s Bill of Rights ensures that clients receive complete and current
information.

Patient education was a significant part of Patient’s Bill of Rights.

∙ The Joint Commission (TJC)
Accreditation mandates require evidence of patient education to improve
outcomes.

​Evolution of the teaching role of nurses (cont’d)

∙ In nursing, patient education has long been a major component.
∙ Florence Nightingale was the ultimate educator.
Evolution of the teaching role of nurses (cont’d)
∙ American Nurses Association (ANA)
Responsible for establishing standards and qualifications for practice,
including patient teaching
∙ International Council of Nurses (ICN)
Endorses health education as an essential component of nursing care
delivery

Purpose, Goals, and Benefits of Client and Staff Education

Purpose: To increase the competence and confidence of clients to manage their own
self-care and of staff and students to deliver high-quality care
Benefits of education to clients:
∙ Increases consumer satisfaction
∙ Improves quality of life
∙ Ensures continuity of care
Purpose, Goals, and Benefits (cont’d)
∙ Decreases client anxiety
∙ Reduces incidence of illness complications
∙ Promotes adherence to treatment plans
∙ Maximizes independence
∙ Empowers consumers to become involved in planning their own care

Purpose, Goals, and Benefits (cont’d)

Benefits of education to staff:
∙ Enhances job satisfaction
∙ Improves therapeutic relationships
∙ Increases autonomy in practice
∙ Provides opportunity to create change that matters

The Education Process

Definition of Terms
Education Process​: A systematic, sequential, planned course of action on the part of
both the teacher and learner to achieve the outcomes of teaching and learning
Teaching/Instruction​: A deliberate intervention that involves sharing information and
experiences to meet the intended learner outcomes
The Education Process (cont’d)

Learning​: A change in behavior (knowledge, attitudes, and/or skills) 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
The Education Process (cont’d)
Patient Education​: The process of helping clients learn health-related behaviors to
achieve the goal of optimal health and independence in self-care
Staff Education​: The process of helping nurses acquire knowledge, attitudes, and skills
to improve the delivery of quality care to the consumer
ASSURE Model
A useful paradigm to assist nurses to organize and carry out the education process
∙ A​nalyze the learner
∙ S​tate the objectives
∙ S​elect instructional methods and materials
∙ U​se instructional methods and materials
∙ R​equire learner performance
∙ E​valuate/revise the teaching plan
Contemporary Role of the Nurse As Educator
∙ Nurses act in the role of educator for a diverse audience of learners—patients and
their family members, nursing students, nursing staff, and other agency personnel.
∙ Despite the varied levels of basic nursing school preparation, legal and
accreditation mandates have made the educator role integral to all nurses.
​Contemporary Role of the Nurse As Educator
∙ The partnership philosophy stresses the participatory nature of the teaching and
learning process.
∙ The new educational paradigm focuses on the learner learning.
∙ Instead of the teacher teaching
∙ The nurse becomes the “guide on the side.”
Contemporary Role of the Nurse As Educator
∙ Nursing education transformation
∙ Gap between nursing education and practice
∙ Patient engagement
Barriers to Teaching

Barriers​ to teaching are those factors impeding the nurse’s ability to optimally deliver
educational services.
MAJOR BARRIERS TO TEACHING INCLUDE
Obstacles to Learning
Obstacles​ to learning are those factors that negatively impact on the learner’s ability to
attend to and process information.

Major Obstacles to Learning

Reference
∙ Bastable, S. (2014): Nurse As Educator: Principles of Teaching and Learning For
Nursing Practice. 3​rd​ ed Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury.