March 26, 2018: Magnet Force 11: Nurses and Interprofessionals as Teachers. Health care professionals partner every day with patients and families to improve patient safety, the quality of patient care, and the patient’s satisfaction with their care. One of these partnerships is through patient education using the evidence-based teach-back method. Do you know that 40-80% of medical information patients receive is forgotten immediately? Ninety-eight percent of medical errors are communication related and patients often don’t want to admit that they don’t understand the information they receive.
Teach-back provides a shame-free environment that evaluates how well the health care professional explained information to the patient. The teach-back method focuses on what the patient and family “need to know”. This includes their disease or condition, medications, self-care requirements, follow-up appointments or referrals and what to do if there is a change in their condition. Using plain language instead of medical or technical terms helps ensure the patient understands. Health care professionals are encouraged to sit down and slow down; use a caring tone of voice and attitude; use simple words and short sentences; highlight or circle key information; re-phrase questions and avoid distractions. Once the education information is shared, the health care professional then asks the patient to use their own words to explain the information. One way of making sure the patient understands is to say “I want to make sure I explained everything clearly; “Will you explain it back to me so I’m sure I did?”; “What will you tell your spouse about the change the doctor made in this medication?” or “We’ve gone over a lot of information. In your own words, will you review with me what we talked about?”
Teaching patients and families can be rewarding and provide a great deal of professional satisfaction. Share an example with your team of a “teach-back” moment you’ve experienced with a patient and family. What difference did it make?
– Janet Leatherwood, CNO