Literature Review: Educating Patients

Literature Review
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February 29, 2020
Introduction to Research
Aside from providing adequate care and treatment, nurses also have a huge role in educating patients. Through this approach, nurses can contribute to the preventive approach that could help in reducing both the costs and human resources needed to treat diseases. Accordingly, this paper aims to study the role of nurses in educating their patients as well as the results of their active educational intervention in improving foot ulcers among diabetic patients. Specifically, this paper’s PICOT Statement is; whether admitted geriatric patients (65 to 80 years old), who are provided with an education program in self-dealing with a diabetic foot for one year, shows a significant improvement as compared to those who were not given the same. Upon reviewing the available research and studies conducted in the same topic, it was shown that (1) providing diabetic foot care could actually result in improvement in self-management and (2) that effective management could be done by nurses with the help of Evidence-based Practice.
Background of the Study
In order to reach the objective of this study, the author believes that it would be best to use a mixed approach (qualitative and quantitative) in order to supplement numerical findings with a more in-depth analysis of the factors in the healthcare setting chosen. Both of these approaches will be illustrated in the succeeding sections.
Quantitative
Understanding the relationship between nursing education and its effectiveness in reducing foot ulcers among geriatric patients require both a representative population and a quantitative analysis of the general patterns of healing (and case reduction). By observing these factors, subjectivity in the perception of the effectiveness of the treatment could be reduced. In one study done by Bus and van Netten (2016), the authors tried to understand the relationship between patient foot care and preventability of foot ulcers, lesions, as well as leg amputations among diabetic patients through well-designed controlled trials. Specifically, the authors analyzed a number of recorded diabetic foot ulcers between settings that implement different modes of treatment. In conclusion, the author found out that by merely focusing diabetic prevention methods through foot care, then the “median effect size found in a total of 23 studies on these interventions is large, over 60%, and further increases when patients are adherent to treatment”.
In another study conducted by Monami, et al. (2015), the authors were able to find a similar result in ‘high-risk’ populations attributing the significant difference between the efficacy of educational programs as compared to standard treatments in treating foot ulcers. Specifically, the authors utilized a Patient Information Neuropathy (PIN), before and after the educational program. They also ensured a systematic and consistent educational program for the participants which include “a two-hour program provided to groups of 5–7 patients, including a 30-minute face-to-face lesson on risk factors for foot ulcers, and a 90-minute interactive session with practical exercises on behaviours for reducing risk” CITATION Mon15 \l 1033 (Monami, et al., 2015).
In line with this, the authors of this study would utilize the same program for nurse educators but only for only about 10 minutes due to the number of participants (n = 100) and the addition of qualitative approach that would require an extended number of hours and more resources. Nonetheless, in order to supplement the educational care, ‘telehealth’ approaches such as those used by Singh et al. (2016), would be provided for the patients in any case that they would like to extend their practice of home care treatments at home.
Lastly, the quantitative portion of this study would utilize both Patient Information Neuropathy (PIN) questionnaires and a Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ). While the PINs would be administered before and after the treatment procedures, the PSQs would only be provided after the treatment in order to provide a quantifiable measurement of their perceptions of the study.
Qualitative
While quantitative interviews can provide a more objective and general data about the ‘physical’ advantages of the intervention chosen, qualitative methods (i.e., in-depth interview) could help in filling in the gaps and providing other data from both the nurses’ and the patients’ perspective.
On the one hand, the author believes that in-depth interviews would help provide additional suggestions as to the techniques ...