Patient Education : A Nurse ’ s Most Important Role By Paulina Duker
Patient education is a natural extension of the nurse-patient relationship . From nursing homes to schools , on safety and infection prevention , nurses provide education as part of the caring relationship they maintain with their clients . For purposes of this article , the patient is synonymous with the person or client receiving healthcare services . This can be in an acute care setting , community-based , outpatient setting , or other settings . In all settings , nursing care of patients involves a partnership where nurses gain professional experience and satisfaction while patients feel cared for in achieving their health goals , including dying comfortably in their familiar surroundings ( Sandford , 2000 ; Gillick et al , 2020 ).
The notion of partnership in nursing care underlies the importance of patient education : that the nurse understands what the patient ’ s goals are and facilitates the accomplishment of those goals through education . This article examines the importance of patient education as a nursing role and the extension of the patient education role to other health care professionals .
As a nurse who has spent most of my career in diabetes care and education , I will cite patient education in diabetes care often , though not always , to demonstrate the nurse ’ s role as well as that of other health care professionals in patient education . The authors of the National Standards of Diabetes Self-Management Education and Support ( NSDSMES ) describe diabetes self-management education and support ( DSMES ) as “ the ongoing process of facilitating the knowledge , skills , and ability necessary for diabetes self-care as well as activities that assist a person in implementing and sustaining the behaviors needed to manage his or her condition on an ongoing basis .”( Beck et al , 2017 ). This comprehensive description of the activities involved in diabetes patient education is applicable for patient education covering other disease states or health care services , and to other healthcare professionals who provide education to patients . In diabetes , such professionals include dietitians , nutritionists , pharmacists , health promoters , exercise physiologists , and physicians .
Why Patient Education is an Important Nursing Role Patient Education underpins nursing theories From Nightingale to Rogers , nursing theorists describe nursing in terms that make patient education central to nursing interactions . Nightingale described nursing as “ putting the patient in the best condition for nature to act on them ” ( Wayne , 2021 ). One can interpret this as nursing serving to equip patients with knowledge that facilitates health . Orem describes nursing as providing “ more than ordinary assistance to meet the needs for self-care ” of patients . ( Wayne , 2021 ). Here , patient education is one primary way to facilitate self-care .
Henderson describes nursing as a function that assists “ individuals both sick and well … in activities contributing to health … to help ( them ) gain independence as rapidly as possible .”( Wayne , 2021 )). Henderson ’ s theory of nursing is probably the most encompassing in terms of the ubiquitous nature of patient education in nursing across settings .
Lastly , Rogers describes nursing as assisting “ people in achieving their maximum health potential .” ( Wayne , 2021 ). Through learning about their condition , patients can achieve their maximum health potential . Patient education is the common theme among these theories of nursing care . These and other nursing theories support patient education as an essential role of nurses . Nurses are trained using these theoretical frameworks to prepare them for this important role .
32 NSNA IMPRINT • NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2021 • www . nsna . org