Systematic Review of Patient Education in the Emergency Department, Research Paper Example

Introduction

An article by Szpiro, Harrison, Van Den Kerkhof, & Lougheed (2008) entitled “Patient education in the emergency department: a systematic review of interventions and outcomes” addresses the importance of patient education in the emergency department as related to chronic disease and acute illnesses that require further knowledge and understanding to improve health and wellbeing. The research problem to be considered is how patient education is currently managed and what is required to address further improvements in this area by using such tools as lectures, demonstrations, tools, and discussions to accomplish the intended educational objectives (Szpiro et.al, 2008). The aforementioned article addresses some of the findings to date and supports the acknowledgement of patient education as a critical factor in the restoration of healthier outcomes.

Analysis

The article by Szpiro et.al (2008) utilized a systematic review in order to determine how patient education was managed in the emergency department with respect to acute and chronic illnesses and how these interventions were conducted by nurses. The article reflects the importance of the identification of articles for critical review, the retrieval of these articles, and an evaluation of their contents in order to determine the best possible approaches to support patient education and related outcomes (Szpiro et.al, 2008). This article considers the potential advantages of current interventions and the need for additional insight into patient-based education as provided by nurses in order to restore positive health outcomes (Szpiro et.al, 2008). Databases selected for the article include CINAHL, EMBASE, ERIC, EBM Reviews, HealthSTAR, Global Health, and Dissertation Abstracts International (PubMed Health) using primary key words including “patient education” and “emergency,” 437 articles were reviewed, 19 articles were selected for final inclusion and review in the study, all of which emphasized interventions that took place in the emergency department (Szpiro et.al, 2008). Inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials, observational designs, quasi-experimental designs, all of which emphasized adult patients or children who were accompanied by adults (PubMed Health).

The articles addressed 21 interventions that included such characteristics as didactic lecturing, written guidance, and practice methods, and many articles included a combination of different interventions as part of the routine process (Szpiro et.al, 2008). The study examined three different outcome areas, including cognitive, psychomotor, and affective domains, with some of the studies overlapping into more than one domain (Szpiro et.al, 2008). Based upon the various interventions that were identified, it was determined that there is a need to provide education that is comprised of different interventions in order to fully engage patients and enable them to understand their illness and how to improve their health more effectively (Szpiro et.al, 2008). This article provides an important area of focus regarding the need for patients to receive education that will be valuable to their recovery. This article offered an analysis of the different interventions that currently exist and the overarching trends of nursing-based teaching that are of critical importance to patients who have visited the ED for one reason or another.

In a general context, patient education is essential in the ED because it provides patients with a means of understanding a specific condition and what steps are required to overcome the condition in the home environment. Therefore, self-management must be a critical path to success in supporting recovery and in engaging patients in understanding their condition and how their health has been impacted. Patient education may assume many forms and must be provided in a context that will support their needs in a cohesive manner. This process also requires nurses to be mindful of the challenges of patient care and how education will empower patients to perform self-care and seek assistance as needed to meet these objectives. Adherence to the required recommendations is necessary to improve compliance, recovery, and support a greater quality of life; therefore, educational strategies must be engaging, thoughtful, and interesting in order to capture patients’ attention and focus (Coulter, 2012). The emphasis must be on interventions that support patient engagement and which provide a basis for examining new strategies for improvement that will have lasting benefits for patients over the long term, such as interventions to address coronary artery disease (Brown, Clark, Dalal, Welch, & Taylor, 2011). This reflects the importance of understanding the dynamics of patient education and what will be most successful in supporting patient engagement at the highest possible level to benefit their needs (Coulter, 2012).

Conclusion          

Based upon the results of the systematic review, it was determined that six out of ten randomized controlled trials demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in patient education versus control groups (PubMed Health)  As a result, patient education requires an understanding of prior research in order to determine which strategies have been successful and which have been less than ideal in supporting patient needs. In the emergency department, this is particularly important because it reflects a need to further examine the context of care and treatment, along with other factors that will engage patients most effectively. For example, handouts, discussion, and lectures are the most common methods, and there is very little testing prior to discharge. However, educational opportunities must expand into the use of mobile technologies, websites, and other similar tools that will support patient self-care and an improved understanding of a disease and what is required to achieve the desired results to improve quality of life.

References

Brown, J. P., Clark, A. M., Dalal, H., Welch, K., & Taylor, R. S. (2011). Patient education in the management of coronary heart disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 12.

Coulter, A. (2012). Patient engagement—what works?. The Journal of ambulatory care management, 35(2), 80-89.

PubMed Health. Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE): Quality-assessed reviews. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0026208/

Szpiro, K. A., Harrison, M. B., Van Den Kerkhof, E. G., & Lougheed, M. D. (2008). Patient education in the emergency department: A systematic review of interventions and outcomes. Advanced Emergency Nursing Journal, 30(1), 34-49.