Making sure the patient can understand you, perhaps engage them in the process by encouraging them
to ask questions and asking them questions as well; determine their emotional status, are they anxious
and nervous, or are they calm and talkative? Are they looking at us when we speak to them, or are they
staring down the hall? Can we take them aside to a quit area if it seems to be too noisy. The main goal is
to make sure we have their focus, that way we know the patient is being receptive to the information we
verbalize and demonstrate.
Hi Melana,
You make some great points when it comes to educating patients and what can affect the learning
experience.
As nurses, we know that our days are busy and full of running around trying to fulfill the
countless orders for the day, leaving little to no time to actually spend with our patients.
As you stated,
educating is a main aspect of a nurses day to day, that being said, we need to make sure that our
precious little bit of time is able to make an impact.
With the Health Belief Model, we are able to focus
on the individual patient and cut out a lot of the fluff that sometimes is not important in patient
education.
We are more able to individualize education and spend the proper time educating our
patients.
I like how you mentioned we have to improvise and accommodate education depending on the
situation, and that is exactly right, we have to adapt to the patient and do what is best for them.
The
HBM is a great tool to help nurses to hone in on what is important to the patient and if they are willing
and ready to make a behavior change.
Patient willingness being one of the most important aspects of a
behavior change, it is absolutely necessary for nurses to assess this prior to educating.
Thanks for sharing!
The health belief model was originally developed in the 1950s with the intention of trying to understand
why people did not take advantage of public health programs that were available to them. The health
belief model attempts to explain elements that could affect a person’s decision on whether to make a
choice to act or not in relation to their health. Some elements that could affect a person’s choice are the
perceived threat, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy. These
components are closely interrelated (Boslaugh, 2013).
Using this belief model can help nurses better understand and educate their patients and plan
appropriate interventions. If a person is educated on the risks of a certain behavior of their lifestyle
whether it is smoking or not wearing condoms, he or she may be more likely to stop the behavior.
Teaching a person on the benefits of stopping the behavior would prove to be a successful additive
approach. Understanding the barriers that could prevent the person from stopping the harmful behavior
is, also, useful to know for the nurse. The person’s barriers are usually what would prevent one from
stopping the harmful behavior. They might feel that it is overwhelming and unattainable. The nurse
would then focus more on this portion of education. Giving them encouragement and techniques to
