Barriers to

Education and
Obstacles to
Learning
Facilitated by:
Roberto C. Sombillo RN, PhD
Barriers to Education
•Barriers to education are those factors impeding
the nurse’s ability to deliver educational services.
Obstacles in Learning
•Obstacles to learning are those factors that
negatively affect the ability of the learner to
attend to and process information.
Barriers to Education

• TIME
• Lack of time to teach is cited by nurses as the greatest barrier to being able
to carry out their educator role effectively
• In addition, nurses’ schedules and responsibilities are very demanding.
• Finding time to allocate to teaching is very challenging in light of the
competition from other work demands and expectations.
Solutions

• Nurses must know how to adopt an abbreviated, efficient and

expeditious approach to patient and staff education by first adequately
assessing the learner and then by using appropriate instructional
methods and tools at their disposal.
• Discharge planning will play an ever more important role in ensuring
continuity of care across settings.
 NO PREPARATION
Barriers to Many nurses and other
healthcare personnel
Education are traditionally ill
prepared to teach.
Evidence in • Kruger (1991) surveyed 1230 nurses in
staff, administrative, and education
Literature positions regarding their perceptions
of the extent of nurses’ responsibility
for and level of achievement of patient
education.
• Although all three groups strongly
believed that patient education is a
primary responsibility of nurses, the
vast majority of them rated their
ability to perform patient education
activities as not being satisfactory.
 Your Turn…

What opportunity
can you think of to How will you
address the implement it?
barrier?
 • PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
• Personal characteristics of the nurse educator
Barriers to play an important role in determining the
outcome of a teaching–learning interaction.
Education • Motivation to teach is a prime factor in
determining the success of any educational
endeavor
 What opportunity
can you think of to
Opportunity address the barrier?
to Address
the Barrier
How will you
implement it?
Barriers to Education
•PRIORITY TO EDUCATE
•Low priority was often assigned to
patient and staff education by
administration and supervisory
personnel
Your Turn…

WHAT OPPORTUNITY CAN YOU THINK HOW WILL YOU IMPLEMENT IT?
OF TO ADDRESS THE BARRIER?
 BUDGET

Barriers to
Education Budget allocations for educational
programs remain tight and can interfere
with the adoption of innovative and
time-saving teaching strategies and
techniques.
Barriers to Education

• LACK OF PRIVACY
• The lack of space and privacy in the various environmental settings
where nurses are expected to teach and learners are expected to learn is
not always conducive to carrying out the teaching–learning process
 • ABSENCE OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
• An absence of third-party reimbursement
to support patient education programs
Barriers to relegates teaching and learning to less
than high-priority status
Education • Nursing services within healthcare facilities
are subsumed under hospital room costs
and, therefore, are not specifically
reimbursed by insurance payers
Your Turn… What opportunity can
you think of to address
the barrier?

How will you

implement it?
Barriers to Education

•LACK of INTEREST OF PATIENTS

•When patients do not display an interest in changing behavior,
when they demonstrate an unwillingness to learn, or when
their ability to learn is in question.
•Concerns about coercion and violation of free choice, based on
the belief that patients have a right to choose and that they
cannot be forced to comply, explain why some professionals
choose not to invest time and effort in teaching.
 What opportunity can you
think of to address the
barrier?

Your turn…
How will you implement it?
 LACK OF COORDINATION

Barriers to
Education Inadequate coordination and
delegation of responsibility so that
health teaching can proceed in a
timely, smooth, organized, and
thorough fashion
 Your turn…

WHAT OPPORTUNITY CAN YOU HOW WILL YOU IMPLEMENT IT?

THINK OF TO ADDRESS THE
BARRIER?
 •LACK OF CONSISTENCY
•There are a multitude of
Barriers to healthcare providers
covering much of the
Education same content, but not
necessarily with
consistency
Your turn…

WHAT OPPORTUNITY CAN YOU THINK HOW WILL YOU IMPLEMENT IT?
OF TO ADDRESS THE BARRIER?
• DOCUMENTATION
• Inattention to documentation and
inadequate forms on which to record
teaching activities.
• Inadequate recording of teaching
efforts impedes communication
among healthcare providers regarding
what has been taught, diminishes the
attention paid to the education efforts
by nurses, and raises the very real
possibility of legal liability of
professionals
 •STRESS
•The stress of acute and chronic
Obstacles to illness, anxiety, sensory deficits,
and low literacy in patients are
Learning just a few problems that can
diminish learner motivation and
interfere with the process of
learning.
Obstacles to Learning

•ENVIRONMENT
•The negative influence of the hospital
environment itself, resulting in loss of control,
lack of privacy, and social isolation, can interfere
with a client’s active role in health decision
making and involvement in the
teaching–learning process
 Obstacles to Learning

•TIME
•Lack of time to learn due to rapid patient discharge from
care can discourage and frustrate the learner, impeding
the ability and willingness to learn
 Obstacles to
Learning
• CHARACTERISTICS
• Personal characteristics of the
learner have major effects on
the degree to which
predetermined behavioral
outcomes are achieved.
• Readiness to learn, motivation
and compliance,
developmental-stage
characteristics, and learning
styles are some of the prime
factors influencing the success of
educational endeavors.
Obstacles to Learning
• EXTENT and COMPLEXITY
• The extent of behavioral changes needed,
both in number and in complexity, can
overwhelm learners and dissuade them
from attending to and accomplishing
learning objectives and goals
 •LACK OF REINFORCEMENT
•Lack of support and ongoing
Obstacles to positive reinforcement from
Learning the nurse and significant
others serves to block the
potential for learning
 •PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
•Denial of learning needs,
resentment of authority,
and lack of willingness to
Obstacles to take responsibility (locus of
Learning control) are some
psychological obstacles to
accomplishing behavioral
change
Obstacles to Learning
•INCONVENIENCE
•The inconvenience, complexity, inaccessibility,
fragmentation, and dehumanization of the healthcare
system often result in frustration and abandonment of
efforts by the learner to participate in and comply with
the goals and objectives for learning.
Questions?
Thank you!