Several months ago, I was talking to an oncologist about provider education. He told me about his usual experience with provider education at his organization, with an edge to his voice:
“We are always, always being asked to do one more thing. Things added on. Little things…and it’s constant and it’s so frustrating.”
This ‘one more thing’ phrase has been echoed since then in many other conversations I’ve had with healthcare professionals.
So I have been thinking about this idea of doing ‘one more thing.’
Specifically, I’ve been trying to understand as an educator what it means to think about patient or client education in this ‘one more thing’ kind of way.
When one more thing is good
On one hand, I can see how many ‘one more thing’ approaches can be very valuable.
In fact, multiple providers have shared with me stories of one particular innovation or another that has made a difference to their practice. In one organization, it was the introduction of a five-item checklist. In another, it involved use of a single sticky note.
When one more thing isn’t so good
On the other hand, ‘one more thing’ approaches can risk oversimplifying, or flattening, or ignoring some of the complex realities of practice.
This is what I think I’m hearing in health professionals’ tone of voice when they speak with me about ‘one more thing.’ It’s not a happy tone, at any rate.
We may secretly hope that one little tweak, or one more step, in what we do, will change everything. But down deep we know better.
One serious concern I have with ‘one more thing’ approaches to patient education is this:
I am skeptical of any patient education support that treats patient education as some add-on to care, rather than central to and inseparable from care.
Part of what makes for less-than-effective provider education sessions is when they are separated from work. I don’t mean in time and space (though that matters, too). I mean that work stops so learning can happen, and then work starts again.
This means that the connection between what is done and said in the ‘training’ and what is done and said in ‘real work’ can be left for participants to make for themselves. It is to hope for some kind of transfer of these ‘add-on’ actions to everyday work.
When the responsibility is placed on you, the participants, to find a way to make it work, the subtext is – if you don’t, well that’s on you.
I join my voice with those who make issues of patient communication and education central and integral, rather than marginal, to the work of health care.
That is, addressing how providers educate is not something done once (or once a year), but as an ongoing project of providers’ professional lives. As central to and inseparable from the work of providing care.
Not an add-on
You don’t need one more thing. And you don’t need to add something on.
Instead: Look at what you’re already doing. And decide for yourself if there’s something you want to change.
I’ll help you.
This means some structure, some well designed questions, and some ways to unpack the many activities you engage in with your patients when you are hoping to teach them on a topic. And I have created them for you and put them together in a convenient and economical bundle.
This is not about adding one more thing to your already crowded day. It’s about improving what are you already doing, making your day better, and increasing your effectiveness.
No matter how much time each day you spend in patient education, no matter how you currently ‘do’ patient education: in this bundle, you will find something to make that education more effective.
- You’ll improve what you’re already doing to increase your effectiveness
- You’ll see what culturally and linguistically appropriate patient education can look like
- You’ll get educational principles that reach all learners
- You’ll view your own patient education differently
In short, it’s world-class research that’s easy-to-access. It’s an audiobook, an ebook, and exclusive supplementary materials.
You can get the Effective Patient Education Audiobook Bundle here.
Listen to the audiobook during your commute, or while catching up on stuff at home. Or read the ebook that comes with it. Pass the supplementary materials around to your colleagues.
The materials here will help you look at what you are already doing, in ways that will show you what you can do differently to be more effective. Not one more thing added on.
You get practical, culturally and linguistically relevant advice and research-based tools, in an unfussy, conversational format. No matter your specialization. No matter who you’re educating. No matter what standards or metrics you are aiming for.
This bundle of audiobook, eBook, and supplementary materials will help make your life easier. And it might change the way you think about patient education.
And if you give it a try for 30 days and it just isn’t helping? Let me know and I’ll give you a refund.
So get it now:
Effective Patient Education Audiobook Bundle
This bundle of audiobook, eBook, and supplementary materials will help make your life easier. And it might change the way you think about patient education, no matter your specialization or patient population. You get practical, culturally and linguistically relevant advice and research-based tools, in an unfussy, conversational format. All sales support this podcast series.
$19.99
Buy Now
