Who Has Time for Patient Education?

by Bernadette Peters, CEO, Natural Marketing Services

With busy schedules, and lower reimbursements, you might think you have very little “extra time” to spend educating your patients. However, not educating them might be costing your practice more than you realize, and effectively communicating with your patients just might be easier than you think.

Let’s Look at the Financial Impact of Patient Education . . .

“A patient who understands his or her condition and treatment and how his or her health care plan works, can reduce your telephone hassle factor and improve access to your practice for other patients,” says Thomas J. Weida, MD member of the Family Practice Management Board of Editors.

Much of the practice staffs’ time is consumed with questions and inquiries regarding a previous condition and treatment. Often times, patients also return because they did not understand their treatment plan before they left your office.

Also, many patients are taking the initiative to research symptoms, conditions and treatments before their appointment. Although this demonstrates attentiveness to their health, many times patients can be misinformed by the internet, magazine articles, friends, etc. A good provider-patient dialogue can clear up a lot of mis-information. Also, communication tools that you provide to your patients can go a long way in proactive education.

By taking the time to educate patients, you also reduce your malpractice risk. As you communicate with patients individually or with a family member, and as you distribute health care information, you demonstrate your due diligence. Also, by discussing treatment options with a patient, you share the responsibility of care with that patient.

For example, a patient with elevated cholesterol can exercise, change their diet and/or take medication. Depending on the cholesterol levels and overall health of the patient, the treatment options may vary, however, a discussion and educational materials can help the patient make an informed decision.

What Strategies Can You Put in Place to Make Patient Education Efficient?

Brainstorm Key Patient Education Issues
If you spend a little time brainstorming with your providers and staff, you might be able to identify what the most important patient education topics are. For example, if you see a growing trend of female patients with breast cancer or even worries from patients who discover a mass in their breast tissue, breast health care and screening education might be a key topic on your list. Even if you don’t see certain conditions often in your office, but find that you and your clinical staff are discussing the same topics over and over with patients, that should go on the list as well.

Purchase or Create Communication Materials for Your Top Education Issues
Once you have established your most important communication topics, you will want to see if you can reduce time spent on certain discussions with patients. For example, conversations about how to do a breast self-examination, or how caffeine can cause fibroids in breast tissue can be repetitive. A handout or brochure on topic can either substitute for a lengthy conversation, or support your personal discussion with a patient.

A website and patient newsletter is a great way to educate patients with minimal costs. You should do some research about your patients and determine how many of them are actively using the web and email before making this decision. Electronic information is easily changed or tailored to your patients as the educational topics in your practice shift, or as your patient demographics change. A website or newsletter article can also easily be forwarded to others and can be a good source of referrals to your practice.

There are many sources of good health care content that licensed and used to educate your patients, however, customizing the information when you are able, is always the optimal way to communicate effectively to your particular patients.