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
Analyze the learner
State the objectives
Select instructional methods and materials
Use instructional methods and materials
Require learner performance
Evaluate/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. 3rd ed Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Sudbury.