1-2-3, Go
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1-2-3, Go
1-2-3, Go
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BY WENDY MEYEROFF ON APRIL 1, 2015 ·
HOPKINS NURSE, HOWARD, SPRING 2015
A Att H Hoow waarrdd C Coouunnttyy G Geenneerraall,, aa nnuurrssee--ppaattiieenntt eedduuccaattiioonn ppllaann eennssuurreess tthhaatt tthhee ttaakkeeaaw waayy iiss aa pprrooppeerr uunnddeerrssttaannddiinngg ooff m meeddss When patients are headed out the door with anywhere from one to more than a dozen new medications, it’s crucial that they understand proper usage and precautions to prevent bad reactions or even readmittance. At Howard County General Hospital (HCGH), nurses are making that take-home message DOWNLOAD THE CURRENT ISSUE
count through a program called Photo by Chris Hartlove
Teach 3. POPULAR
For Debbie Fleischmann, MPH, RN, director of education and professional development at HCGH, a suspicion that medication communications were not being delivered as clearly as they could be was
AUGUST 21, 2012
confirmed by the results of a December 2013 inpatient Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
A Retirement to Remember
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Providers and Systems (CAPHS) survey. Among discharged patients, only 43 percent said they had discussed their medications’ potential side e"ects with members of the medical team and another 23 percent reported they’d never had such a conversation at all.
APRIL 11, 2013
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Touchdown!
“Lots of our nurses do talk to patients about their medications,” Fleischmann says, adding that there can be numerous obstacles to true comprehension. “Patients can be sick, tired, in pain, anxious, fearful, upset.” There are also language barriers and challenges associated with an aging population.
DECEMBER 1, 2005
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A Matter of Degree
So Fleischmann and her team created Teach 3, an education and communication program to improve nurse instructions, increase patient understanding, and lower readmissions. It started at HCGH in spring 2014 in the medical/surgical unit, whose patients tend to leave with the most medications. In Teach 3, nurses learn three key points to make. “The first is the name of medication, second is what it’s for, and third are [potential] side e"ects,” says Fleischmann. Patients are asked to relay the information back to determine how quickly and clearly they comprehend. “I think the consistent teaching that we do and then the patients’ talking back to us about what we taught them really helps us know that they understand the medications they’re going home on,”
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