Facilitating Patient Learning about Their Diagnosis

Abstract

This essay focuses on a knowledge deficit a patient may have regarding their illness. The educational topic as well as why it was chosen will be discussed. The student nurse will analyze the patient’s readiness to learn and address any factors that will facilitate or hinder the learning. The method of implementation, rationales for why the method was chosen, and the teaching tools used will be discussed. The student nurse will also explore how and when the teaching will be implemented to the patient. Finally, the student nurse will evaluate how much of the knowledge the patient retained.

Teaching Plan

When a patient is recently diagnosed with an illness, they can often be under informed or misinformed. This can result from a myriad of reasons such as not understanding how to research information, not understanding the illness fully, forgetting to ask their primary health providers question, or not being able to retain information due to the shock of the recent diagnosis. This essay will focus on MC, a 46-year-old female admitted to the hospital for an exacerbation in her Crohn’s disease, and her knowledge deficit regarding her recent Crohn’s diagnosis.

Educational Topic

The educational topic chosen for MC was learning healthy habits to prevent Crohn’s disease exacerbations. Crohn’s disease is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disease; this inflammation can lead to malnutrition because it impairs the body’s ability to absorb vitamins, water, electrolytes, and other nutrients (Huether & McCance, 2017).  Crohn’s disease does not currently have a cure, thus, learning healthy habits is a vital role in managing the illness. For instance, certain foods can create exacerbation in the illness while other foods can relax the bowel, supporting nutrition absorption. Learning healthy habits of what foods to eat will help manage the disease (Huether & McCance, 2017). MC claimed she was recently diagnosed with Crohn’s disease a few months ago and is, “learning as [she] goes.” MC also stated she wants to minimize as much flare ups of her Crohn’s disease because it is, “painful and annoying.” This education topic of preventing Crohn’s flare ups will improve her quality of life and prevent possible bowel obstructions.

Patient Assessment

As mentioned, MC is a 46-year-old female who has no cognitive deficits; this facilitates learning because she is able to understand information and retain it without having to overcome an intellectual disability. MC graduated high school and attended beauty school to be a licensed esthetician; this facilitates learning because she is used to grasping ideas and learning new techniques. She also reported she is a visual and auditory learner. As for MC’s health belief, she is very firm on a holistic approach to the illness; she understands medications must be taken, however, she refuses to fully rely on them. This facilitates learning because adjusting the diet to treat her Crohn’s disease will match her holistic beliefs. When it comes to MC’s physical condition, she only has deficits in her gastrointestinal system caused by her Crohn’s disease. This will facilitate learning because she is able to listen, see, and actively participate in learning without compromising her body systems. MC claims she is close with her parents and recently moved back to help them around the house. MC also claims she is close with a few of her coworkers and has a wine night with them once a week. This facilitates learning because a positive support system can encourage MC to learn and manage her Crohn’s disease. MC is a middle class American women; this facilitates learning because she is fluent in English, and can thus read and learn from articles and graphs. Also, the American culture does not prohibit certain foods from being eaten, allowing MC to eat meats and fish. Since MC is middle class, it also facilitates her learning because she is able to experiment with what types of groceries she can buy without budgeting too tightly. The main learning barrier MC will have to overcome is her anxiety and depression disorder. When these items are not managed effectively, MC claims she loses motivation to learn and has trouble retaining and focusing on information. Currently MC takes Ativan and goes to counseling; she claims the disorders are being managed effectively with this treatment. Currently, the patient’s mood is neutral. She is receptive to the idea of learning and has verbalized her interest. She claims her main reason for wanting to learn is to prevent as much pain caused from the Crohn’s disease as possible.