Abstract
Background: Patient education is associated with reduced hospital readmission rates, lower patient anxiety, and improvement in quality of life. Although nursing students report feeling ill-prepared and less confident in educating their patients in clinical settings, few studies have assessed their perspectives on this topic.Method: This study explores the perceived challenges, obstacles, self-efficacy, and preparedness of undergraduate nursing students in providing patient education by collecting qualitative data through focus group discussions (FGDs).Results: Five major themes emerged from the FGDs: significance of patient education, nursing process in providing patient education, evolving sense of preparation, evolving sense of confidence, challenges/barriers to providing patient education. While all interviewed nursing students felt that patient education was a vital nursing responsibility, advanced students had more confidence and knowledge regarding this responsibility.Conclusion: Understanding the nursing student experience in patient education preparedness may aid nursing instructors in better tailoring nursing curricula and support to meet their students' needs.
Highlights
Patient education is a vital nursing responsibility clearly outlined in the scope and standards of nursing (American Nurses Association, 2015) and has significantly evolved in the past six decades (Hoving et al, 2010)
This discontent likely partially stems from the complexity of patient education—patients must process the information provided by their healthcare provider and use it to make well-informed decisions about their healthcare regimen (Graham & Brookey, 2008)
While nursing curricula should prepare students to provide effective patient education (American Nurses Association, 2015), this topic may be de-emphasized as nursing instructors are often more concerned with students' practical skills (Abbasi et al, 2018)
Summary
Patient education is a vital nursing responsibility clearly outlined in the scope and standards of nursing (American Nurses Association, 2015) and has significantly evolved in the past six decades (Hoving et al, 2010). Patient education is associated with increased treatment knowledge of patients (e.g., adverse effects of medications [Apor et al, 2018]), reduced hospital readmission rates, improved quality of life (Rice et al, 2018), and lower patient anxiety levels (Apor et al, 2018; Gökçe & Arslan, 2019). Others reported being confused about their healthcare regimen and not remembering discussing necessary changes to their medications with their healthcare providers (Mackridge et al, 2017). This discontent likely partially stems from the complexity of patient education—patients must process the information provided by their healthcare provider and use it to make well-informed decisions about their healthcare regimen (Graham & Brookey, 2008). Nursing students report feeling ill-prepared and less confident in educating their patients in clinical settings, few studies have assessed their perspectives on this topic
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