title: The role of the nurse in patient education. Focus: the cardiac patient.
abstract: Although nursing perceives patient teaching as an essential function, there is significant disparity between policy and practice. The evidence cited shows that nurses are not doing effective, consistent patient teaching and are not perceived by patients and doctors as competent in patient teaching. It appears that nurses do not view patient teaching as a priority and that nurses are not held accountable for patient teaching. Patient teaching seems to be done only "if there is time." It is often done on an informal and largely voluntary basis by motivated nurses. Nurses must awaken to the fact that patient education is not a luxury, but a necessity if patients are to receive maximum benefit from today's knowledge of treatment, prevention, and control of disease. Multiple factors interfere with nurse's doing adequate patient teaching, including inadequate preparation to teach and discrepancies in acceptance of teaching as the nurse's role. These obstacles can be overcome; they must be overcome if nursing is to make a significant contribution toward quality health care.
mesh_terms: D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000534:rehabilitation; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D012380:Role; D013663:Teaching