Real Knowledge Is Power
Knowledge is power. We must educate the patient and any caregivers. Effective education is not a couple of pages downloaded from a website or a stock handout from your electronic health record (EHR) system. If it were only that simple. Patients often come away from a new diagnosis of diabetes with some handouts on diet and exercise or receive a folder full of paper after a major surgery.
This is actually anti-education. Information alone is not education. Quite the opposite, unfiltered facts are confusing and can be outright dangerous. We can and must do better.
Individualize Education
Individual patients may be well-educated or have only limited formal education. They may be sophisticated medical consumers or looking for simple directions. We have to tailor information to the individual. These factors must be integrated with the requirements of appropriately managing a person’s particular disorder and understanding how stress about a new diagnosis or ongoing illness might make it more difficult for a person to process information.
What is the purpose of patient education? A basic but complete understanding of a disorder helps a patient understand the importance of the treatments you prescribed. If a person doesn’t understand what is wrong, it is hard to understand why it is important to treat. “Because I said so,” is not a particularly convincing reason. Patients do not need to understand every aspect of the pathophysiology of a disorder. They need to know the important aspects of the condition affecting their care. They need to understand when to take medication, potential side effects, and what to expect from the medication.
It is a fine line between adequate education and information overload.
Keep Them From Turning to Dr. Google
Even when patients have advanced degrees and are eager to learn, they are not nurses, medical students, or physicians. They certainly aren’t subspecialists and they shouldn’t be treated like it. Never assume the patient knows what to do or what not to do. Don’t leave your patients in a position where they need to turn to Dr. Google for information! Guide them toward reliable sources. Better yet, provide links to reliable sources on your own website. Much of what your patients will find on their own is incomplete, inadequate, confusing, misleading, or simply wrong. However, even if the information might be wrong, if it the only information they have, it can lead to mistrust of the physician and lack of adherence to the treatment plan.
True education requires real communication, reference information, and follow up. Quality education yields better outcomes. Better outcomes, when understood by the patient and family, create happier patients. This is not a cookie cutter process. The explanations of medical disorders must be tailored to the individual patient.
Better Outcomes and Better Business
It might take time. Be mindful of this and bill appropriately. Consider the time an investment in improving outcomes and saved time on the phone later. Don’t rush through the education. Rushing sends the wrong message to the patient and can sabotage a great plan of care.
Education is a cornerstone of patient engagement. When done well, education guides the patient toward appropriate communication with the physician and staff. Spending time educating patients provides billing opportunities and leads to better outcomes, fewer call-backs, and happier patients.
Smart business makes Great Medicine possible, and practicing Great medicine is the cornerstone of Smart business.
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