Historical Foundations for Patient Education in Health Care

• patient education - to inform, encourage, and cau ion patients to follow appropriate hygienic and therapeutic measures occurred even in prehis oric times
• mid-1800s through the turn of the 20th century, described as the formative period by Bartlett
• mid-1800s through the turn of the 20th century - first phase in the development of organized health care by Dreeben (2010
• Florence Nightingale emerged as a resolute advo

  ate of the educational responsibilities of district public health nurses and authored Health Teach ng in Towns and Villages, which advocated for school teaching of health rules as well as health teaching in the home
• Dreeben (2010) describes the first 4 decades of the 20th century as the second phase in the development of organized health care
• first 4 decades if the 20th century - maternal and child health in the United States, the Division of Child Hygiene was estab ished in New York City in 1908
• Division of Child Hygiene was estab ished in New York City in 1908 (Bartlett, 1986). Under the auspices of this organization, public health nurses provided instruction to mothers of newborns in the Lower East Side on how to keep their infants healthy
• Key Factors of 2nd phase - Diagnostic tools, sci

  ntific discoveries, new vaccines and antibiotic medications, and effective surgery and treatment practices led to education programs in sanita ion, immunization, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, and a growth in the U.S. public health system
• first 4 decades of the 20th century - National League of Nursing Education (NLNE) recognized that public health nurses were essential to the well-being of communities and the teaching they provided to individuals, families, and groups was considred “a precursor to modern patient and health education
• third phase in the development of orga ized health care began after World War II
• third phase - a time of significant scientific accomplishments and a profound change in the delivery system of health care
• From the late 1940s through the 1950s is described as a time when patient education continued to occur as part of clinical encounters, but often it was overshad

  wed by the increasingly more technological ori ntation of health care (
• The first references in the literature to patient education began to appear in the early 1950s
• In 1953, Veterans Administration (VA) hospi als issued a technical bulletin titled Patient Ed

  cation and the Hospital Program
• Patient edation and the Hospital Program - This bulletin identified the nature and scope of patient edu ation and provided guidance to all hospital ser ices involved in patient education
• In the 1960s and 1970s, patient education began to be seen as a specific task where empha is was placed on educating individual patients rather than providing general public health education
• 1960s and 1970s - civil rights movement, the women’s move

  ent, and the consumer and self-help move ent, all affected patient education
• the early 1970s, patient education was a significant part of the AHA’s Statement on a Patient’s Bill of Rights, affirmed in 1972 and then formally published in 1973
• The Patient’s Bill of Rights also guarantees a patient’s right to respectful and considerate care
• 1976 edition of the Accreditation Manual for Hospitals published by the Joint Commission on Accredi ation of Healthcare Organizations, now known as The Joint Commission
• Accreditation Manual for Hospitals published by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, now known as The Joint Commission - This manual broadened the scope of patient education to include both outpatient and inpatient services and specified that criteria for patient education should be established
• Accreditation Manual for Hospitals - This manual broadened the scope of patient education to include both outpatient and inpatient services and specified that criteria for patient education should be established
• In 1971, two significant events occurred: (1) A publication from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, titled The Need for Patient Education
• (2) President Richard Nixon issued a message to Congress using the term health education
• 1980s and 1990s, national health education programs once again became pop

  lar as healthcare trends focused on disease prevention and health promotion
• the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), established nursing standards for patient education as early as 1993
• mid-1990s, the Pew Health Profes ions Commission (1995), influenced by the dramatic changes surrounding health care, published a broad set of competencies it believed would mark the success of the health professions in the 21st century. Shortly
• the 21st century, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement announced the 5 Million Lives campaign in 2006
• 5 Million Lives - This campaign’s ob ective was to reduce the 15 million incidents of medical harm that occur in U.S. hospitals each year
• Sullivan Alliance to recruit and educate health professionals, including nurses, to de iver culturally competent care to the public they serve
• Effective health care and health education of patients and their families de

  end on a sound scientific base and cultural awareness in an increasingly diverse society
• Sullivan Alliance - increase the racial and cultural mix of health professional faculty, students, and staff, who are sensitive to the needs of clients of diverse backgrounds
• Healthy People 2010 - development of effective health ed

  cation programs to assist individuals to rec gnize and change risk behaviors, to adopt or maintain healthy practices, and to make appro

  riate use of available services for health care
• , Healthy People 2020 is the product of an extensive evaluation process by stakeholders. Its 40 topic areas support four overarching goals: attaining high-quality and longer lives; achieving health equity and elim nating disparities; creating social and physi

  al environments that promote good health for all; and promoting quality of life, healthy de

  elopment, and behaviors across the entire life span
• The purpose of patient education is to increase the competence and confidence of clients for self-management
• primary goal of pt education is to increase the responsibility and independence of clients for self-care
• The single most important action of nurses as educators is to prepare patients for self-care