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In
healthcare, patients often are used to nurses and other healthcare
professionals taking care of them without having any
responsibilities. In nursing, it is crucial to start patient
education as soon as the patient comes into the hospital, so they are
better able to care for themselves once they leave. Being able to
empower patients to care for themselves means they have control over
something that matters to them: their health. Healthcare
professionals can help patients understand how important it is for
the patients to manage their own health. (Bisognano, 2019)
Something
nurses can do to empower patients to take charge of their health, is
for the patient to manage data collection. Data collection would
involve things like taking their own vital signs, keeping a
medication schedule, knowing the signs and symptoms, and checking
their blood sugar. Empowering these patients to take care of data
collection improves their involvement and can lead to better outcomes
and satisfaction.
Empowering
patients to make health decisions gives them confidence, and with the
confidence earned, they are more able to communicate with healthcare
professionals and say what they’re worried about or what they want
for themselves. As nurses, we cannot just tell patients what to do,
we should advise and educate them to lead them to improve. Another
way to empower patients is to explain to them what is going on. For
example, before giving them a medication, explain what it is and why
it is needed. When the patient knows this, it makes them feel
comfortable and empowered. (“How to empower your patients every
shift”, 2015)
Other
strategies include:
- Creating
solutions alongside the patient - Engaging
the patient in communication - Creating
planned education models with the patient, instead of just handing
them a sheet with information on it - Talk
to administration about offering continuing education to patients
Our
responsibility as nurses is to be patient advocates, and that means
making sure your patient feels confident in the care they’re
receiving, as well as having them take control of their health.
References
Bisognano,
M. (2019, October 23). 5Data-Driven
Patient Empowerment Strategies.Retrieved
from
https://www.healthcatalyst.com/insights/5-data-dri…
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Generally,
there are many strategies that might be effective in empowering
clients (emergency patients in particular) to make health decisions.
Firstly, staying connected with clients on a constant basis, for
example, to inform him or her of the importance of following the diet
can help motivate them to make health decisions and adopt healthy
habits. This might include health coaching, wellness programs, and
personalized care plans that promote behavior change, and motivate
clients to follow preventive care guidelines, eat healthy food, and
perform physical exercises. Secondly, embracing social networking can
help healthcare professionals keep client engagement levels high,
positively impacting their health decision making. The researchers
state that minority clients are rarely consulted about their health
preferences, they are unlikely to ask treatment-related questions,
and thus, they tend to receive incomplete data on their health (Chen,
Mullins, Novak, & Thomas, 2016). From this perspective, social
networks provide perfect means for indirect communication with
clients in order to help them make correct health decisions. Thirdly,
with the significant growth in healthcare’s mobile auditory,
providing clients with mobile options for accessing
condition-specific data, personal health records, lab results, and
other health-related information builds the foundation for
collaborative care, and improves health decision making. Next,
providing clients with a highest possible level of control and
convenience can empower them to make health decisions. The correct
combination of self-management and self-service options allow
healthcare professionals to partner with clients to improve their
health outcomes. Finally initiating a dialogue is a simple strategy
that allows to encourage open communication with clients to help them
follow treatment plans, manage their health, positively impacting
their health decisions. In addition, this provides the ability to
more accurately identify the challenges clients face when they come
to the healthcare unit. For instance, town hall meetings can be
effective in rural settings with limited access to mobile phone
networks or Internet. These strategies can help empower clients to
make health decisions, lead a healthy lifestyle, follow treatment
guidelines, and receive recommended screenings.
All the strategies listed
above might also be helpful in encouraging clients to be accountable
for their own health. Firstly, staying connected with clients can
help educate them about the significance of following treatment
recommendations, whereas making them more accountable for their
health. This can also increase their engagement, helping prevent
complications and chronic diseases. Secondly, the vast majority of
clients are currently using social networks. They are effective in
connecting clients with similar health problems, pointing them to
reliable healthcare resources, and providing educational materials
about wellness and health. Using YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and
other platforms for healthcare-related purposes can significantly
increase client accountability regarding their health. Thirdly,
healthcare mobile applications can be helpful in facilitating shared
decision making between healthcare providers and clients, increasing
their satisfaction, and encouraging greater participation
(Abbasgholizadeh, Menear, Robitaille, & Légaré, 2017). Better
interaction and convenient access to data can not only result in more
effective care, but also encourage clients to be accountable for
their own health. In addition, numerous clients got used to rely on
self-service instruments from retailers, airlines, and banks.
Providing them with the ability to make appointments or access their
medical records online will increase their level of control and
convenience, making them more accountable for their health actions.
Lastly, starting a conversation with clients leads to patients’
increased satisfaction and builds stronger relationships with
healthcare team. This encourages more open communication with
clients, providing the ability to better explain them the importance
of making correct health decisions. In its turn, an improved
communication will lead to an increased client accountability for
their own health. All the strategies listed above could be helpful in
both empowering healthcare clients (including the emergency patients)
to make health decisions and making them accountable for their own
health.
References
Abbasgholizadeh
R. S., Menear, M., Robitaille, H., & Légaré, F. (2017). Are
mobile health applications useful for supporting shared decision
making in diagnostic and treatment decisions? Global
Health Action, 10(sup3),
1332259. doi:10.1080/16549716.2017.1332259
Chen,
J., Mullins, C. D., Novak, P., & Thomas, S. B. (2016).
Personalized Strategies to Activate and Empower Patients in Health
Care and Reduce Health Disparities. Health
Education & Behavior: The Official Publication of the Society for
Public Health Education, 43(1),
25–34. doi:10.1177/1090198115579415
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