title: Tilling the soil: nurturing the seeds of patient and family education.
abstract: Effective patient and family education has become most essential in today's changing health care environment. The importance of patient education is reflected in the organizational performance standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. To keep abreast of these rapid changes, we decided to evaluate and enhance our existing cardiac education program. This article presents our analysis that effective patient and family education must be a coordinated effort across the cardiac continuum. New teaching tools were established to assist in increasing the patients' knowledge base, and consequently empower patients to make better decisions regarding their care.
authors.affiliation: Cardiac Services, North Shore University Hospital, Manhasset, NY, USA.
authors.forename: T A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Gershenson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Quon
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Somerville
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cohn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000072038:Cardiac Rehabilitation; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000451:nursing*; D005190:Family; D006801:Humans; D009518:New York; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013664:Teaching Materials