by John Deutsch - Bridge Patient Portal
Patient education is about more than simply spreading knowledge about the disease. It can also empower patients to better live with their condition and avoid complications–an approach known as therapeutic patient education[¹]
Therapeutic patient education forms part of a holistic treatment of the disease, working in tandem with medications, physiotherapy, and other measures. For patients with chronic or acute conditions, education can have a substantial impact on health outcomes. When the patient is more engaged with their own care, they are more likely to keep to a medication plan and demonstrate higher levels of satisfaction with their treatment.
It is imperative, then, that physicians take steps to achieve better patient education throughout the patient journey. For example:
Pre-op education should be used to make the patient aware of what needs to be done to prepare for an operation, make them less anxious, and cut down on time spent in day-surgery clinics.
Post-op/post-visit education familiarizes patients with their treatment plan so as to encourage adherence. By helping decrease the chance of readmission, post-visit education contributes to the reduction of long-term care costs for both patients and providers.
Rethinking Patient Education
There are many problems with patient education as it is currently practiced. Most clinicians will simply discuss the disease with patients during a quick in-person visit, but the details of a short verbal discussion are often misunderstood or forgotten.[²] This approach carries a higher risk of complications down the line.
Unfortunately, printed material for patient education has also been proven to have little effect on patient outcomes[³], especially when it comes to patients with a low health literacy level to begin with.[⁴]
It is difficult for the layperson to process a large amount of new medical information. Rather than dumping all the details at once, it is recommended to ‘’drip-feed’’ the patient easily digestible, bite-sized chunks of information.
Personalized Learning with a Patient Portal
Personalized learning involves tailoring education to the learner’s needs–in this case, how patients actually process information. 85%[⁵] of Americans use a smartphone, which is why many healthcare stakeholders are seeking mobile health solutions such as a patient portal or mHealth app that can provide patients with timely education via their phones.
A systematic review of mHealth solutions and apps for patients[⁶] concluded that a patient portal solution had the most significant effect on overall knowledge (100%) [⁶]. Positive impacts were also seen in adherence to medication (84%) and treatment instructions (75%) as well as satisfaction with the information provided (93%), and clinical outcomes (74%).
The positive impact of automated patient education was 9% more effective with at least one push notification per week, increased to 13% more effective if the whole education program lasted less than a month.[⁶]
Healthcare stakeholders looking to improve patient engagement and health outcomes are urged to consider mHealth solutions such as patient portals. For optimal results, these should allow users access to a patient education library and make use of timely push notifications.
About the Author
John Deutsch
John is CEO of Bridge Patient Portal with 20 years of healthcare IT business ownership experience specializing in patient engagement, marketing, and software development.
Check out Bridge's recent webinar with FQHC Connect where they talked about Taking Patient Engagement to the Next Level with Telehealth, Mobile, & Other Patient Engagement Initiatives.
About Bridge Patient Portal
Bridge is an enterprise patient portal and patient engagement solution for healthcare organizations. The platform is ideal for health centers seeking to replace their existing EHR’s patient portal, connect disparate EHR environments, consolidate costly patient engagement tools, offer telemedicine services, and/or publish a mobile app.
Bridge is a community sponsor of FQHC Connect and has a number of FQHCs using their platform. They are constantly seeking to improve their technology and collaborate with FQHCs to find new and creative ways to advance patient engagement in FQHCs.
Learn more at www.bridgepatientportal.com.
Article Sources:
Correia, J. C., Waqas, A., Aujoulat, I., Davies, M. J., Assal, J.-P., Golay, A., & Pataky, Z. (2022). Evolution of therapeutic patient education: A systematic scoping review and scientometric analysis. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Available at: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202203.0131/v1
ResearchGate. (n.d.). Strategies for improving the quality of verbal patient and family education: A review of the literature and creation of the EDUCATE model. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271900748_Strategies_for_improving_the_quality_of_verbal_patient_and_family_education_A_review_of_the_literature_and_creation_of_the_EDUCATE_model
Giguère , A., Zomahoun , H. T., Carmichael , P. H., Uwizeye , C. B., Légaré , F., Grimshaw , J. M., Gagnon , M. P., Auguste , D. U., & Massougbodji , J. (2020). Printed educational materials for healthcare professional practice and Patient Health. [Online] Cochrane. Available at: https://www.cochrane.org/CD004398/EPOC_printed-educational-materials-healthcare-professional-practice-and-patient-health
American College of Surgeons. (n.d.). Low health literacy may be a risk factor for postoperative infection. [online] American College of Surgeons. Available at: https://www.facs.org/media/press-releases/2020/low-health-literacy-082420
Pew Research Center. (2021). Mobile Fact Sheet. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/
Timmers, T., Janssen, L., Kool, R.B. and Kremer, J.A. (2020). Educating Patients by Providing Timely Information Using Smartphone and Tablet Apps: Systematic Review. [online] Journal of Medical Internet Research. Available at: https://www.jmir.org/2020/4/e17342/
