title: Iranian nurses and nursing students' attitudes on barriers and facilitators to patient education: a survey study.
abstract: The aim of this study is to describe the attitudes of Iranian nurses and students on barriers and facilitators to patient education. In this descriptive quantitative study, 103 nurses and 84 nursing students in two teaching hospitals in an urban area of Iran responded to a questionnaire investigating their attitudes on patient education. Results showed that all nurses and the majority (87.3%) of the students mentioned that they performed patient education. Moreover, 95% and 63.3% of the nurses and students respectively accepted that patient education was one of their roles. The nurses stated that heavy workload, inadequate time and lack of educational facilities were main barriers to patient education. The students believed that lack of knowledge, lack of communication skills and heavy workload were main barriers to patient education from their perspectives. While Iranian nurses and nursing students had positive attitudes towards patient education, it could not guarantee the implementation of patient education. Therefore, the clarification of patient education activities and development of a patient education team with the support of healthcare settings' administrators can facilitate the process of patient education in the Iranian healthcare settings.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Social Determinants of Health, Department of Community Medicine, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran. Electronic address: Ghorbani_raheb@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Raheb
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghorbani
authors.affiliation: Nursing Faculty and Allied Health, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, 5th Km Damghan Road, Semnan, Iran. Electronic address: Soli257@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mohsen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soleimani
authors.affiliation: Fatemieh Hospital, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran (1).
authors.forename: Mohammad-Reza
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Zeinali
authors.affiliation: Fatemieh Hospital, Semnan University of Medical Sciences, Semnan, Iran (1).
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davaji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D024802:Nurse's Role; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Clinical; Iran; Nurses; Patient education; Students