[Medical education and patient education: new teaching strategies and new communication dynamics].
BACKGROUND
This study was designed to shed light on the learning difficulties of diabetic patients.


METHODS
An open-ended questionnaire was sent to 50 patients and 50 diabetics patients and 100 health care professionals working in the field of diabetes and nutrition who had been trained in patient education techniques. They were asked to describe the skills that were the easiest to teach patients and those that patients mastered the best, as well as the skills they found hardest to teach patients, those that patients mastered the least and those that gave rise to errors persisting after the patients education was completed.


RESULTS
On the whole, the results showed that the educators found it easy to teach techniques: patients mastered procedures well and made few mistakes. In contrast, diabetic patients seem to have problems learning skills, such as insulin dose adjustment, that require complex problem-solving (involving multiple variables).


CONCLUSIONS
Based on these findings, the authors discuss the notions of learning complexity and the time needed for successful patient education.
Binetti
P
P
Università Campus Bio-Medico, Dipartimento per la Ricerca e l'innovazione educativa, Roma, Italia. p.binetti@unicampus.it
Nicolò
A
A
D003142:Communication; D003376:Counseling; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D004704:Endocrinology; D017144:Focus Groups; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D007858:Learning; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010551:Personality; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012646:Self Administration; D012648:Self Care / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D007328:Insulin