Effective patient education: Getting the message and the delivery ‘right’

Every patient has a story which can influence their health care journey. But not every story gets heard because health care professionals do not always have the time to listen. However, to not hear the narrative of the client is to potentially ignore them as a holistic being. How often do health care professionals ask the questions to really determine who the person is, what shapes their world and how best do they understand the alteration in their health care situation? The rich information that exists in the client’s story needs to be integrated into health care delivery. The challenge however is to make every health care professional cognizant of the need to listen, to appreciate the patient experience and to ensure that the patient is involved in the decisions about their health care journey. Care delivery should be based on effective communication and education and health care professionals need to make this their business. This starts with novice students being taught the fundamental skills of communication. In 2009 Dr Kerry Reid-Searl, pioneered an innovative simulation technique in the undergraduate nursing program at CQUniversity which would see students appreciating the concept of communication and listening to the patient story from a first year first term level. The technique- now termed as Mask Ed (KRS simulation) has proven to engage learners and promote reflection beyond the simulation experience. Further, the pedagogy behind the technique has now been extended to cater for students understanding the paediatric experience through puppets. The following presentation will showcase both simulation techniques followed by an explanation of the pedagogy. The presentation will also provide evidence of the success of the techniques. Most importantly, the audience will gain an appreciation of the patient story, the value of being listened to, the power of effective communication from health care professionals, the relationship between compliance and understanding and the impact that the latter has on the patient’s health care journey. Finally it is hoped that this paper inspires others to consider different strategies in order to engage patients as learners.