If hired at our organization, how would you ensure that patients receive education and information in terms that they understand?

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Community Answers

As a Registered Nurse, you will often be in a position at this organization where you will provide complicated information and education to patients. Your interviewer wants to hear that you can gauge each unique patient and their understanding of information so that you can take a personalized approach to educate every patient you would be working with. If you have an example of a time when you successfully educated a patient in the simplest terms, be sure to discuss that in your answer.

"As an RN that takes the time to get to know my patients on a personal level, I can gather a lot of information on them to make the best determination on how to pass the information along to them. Recently, I was caring for a young man with developmental disabilities. To ensure his proper self-care following his discharge, I took the time to print and walk through many different rehab protocols for him. This included exercises and diet recommendations for him. On the morning of his discharge, I had him walk me through his exercise routines based on the information I had given him, and he walked out of the hospital confident in his ability to recover on his own."

I try to make the education part of my job as easy to process as possible. As nurses, we sometimes forget that using healthcare jargon can confuse patients. I don't use abbreviations when giving instructions. If there is a lot to cover, I will pause and make sure they understand. I will ask them to tell me what they need to do or what to watch for when they get home and then see if they have any questions before moving on to the next section.

Anonymous Answer

"To ensure patients receive education and information in terms they understand, I'd assess and determine which learning style is best suited for each individual patient (visual, verbal, etc.), I'd ensure I am using laymen's terms, and allow pausing in between for the patient to ask any questions they may have. I believe asking the patient to repeat back the information to the nurse is an effective way to ensure the patient is understanding the information that is being given."

Marcie's Feedback

Nice! These are all great ways to make sure that your patients understand what you are telling them. The interviewer will be impressed with your knowledge in this area. If there's a personal example you can cite, that will further strengthen your answer. Good job!