Patient Education
Patients education
Patient education can be described as a process by which majorly health professionals and other related stakeholders impart information to patients together with their caregivers so that there can be improvement of health status and also alter health behavior of patients. Those who may be involved in health education may include physicians, pharmacists, registered nurses, psychologists, special interest groups, and pharmaceutical companies. Health education can also be used as a tool by managed care plans in general preventative education and health promotion. Some of the important elements that are supposed to be considered when dealing with patient education are skill building and responsibility. It is necessary for patients to know why, when and how they are required to make their lifestyle change. This process of patient education is capable of reducing healthcare costs.
Looking at studies pertaining cost containment, it shows that patient education results to a significant savings. Those patients who are educated tend to maintain better health and fewer instances of complications, and this makes them to be in need of fewer occasions of hospitalizations, visits to emergency department, as well as clinic and physician visits. While health care's growth continues to outpace inflation in most of the nations allover the world, health policy makers have majorly turned to concentrate more on cost containment. In managed care, they have majorly shifted their strengths in lowering supply of services.
Educating patients and engaging them in their health management will always lower better the outcome hence lowering costs. The healthcare will have small number of diagnostic testing expenditures in addition to fewer referrals. Patients who have been educated and involved in their health affairs tend to be more adherences to the prescribed medical treatments which as well impacts cost and quality outcomes positively. Educating the patients means that even the family members or caregivers are also to be included in the ongoing education and this always improve functional status and faster recovery.
Impacting patients with knowledge about their health and ways of managing it without having to depend on the help from the hospital or other people makes the patients themselves to feel more involved, empowered, and knowledgeable hence becomes more satisfied. Patients education have positive impact on self-management and behavior change on the part of the patients, which according to researches this have a direct impact on the health outcomes and the costs involved.
In the U.S. two-thirds of the populations are overweight or obese. According to the researches, the rising rates of obesity accounts for a considerable fraction of spending growth in America. These obese individuals have high chances of developing chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, and asthma. People who have chronic conditions usually account for about 84% of the United State's total cost of health care. A study done by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2012 found that most of the chronic conditions are preventable, and in many occasion accelerated by a personal choice to be involved in unhealthy behaviors. Patients who have been well-informed and impacted with knowledge carry out more health-related behavior changes, like the ones pertaining dietary modification, exercise, and smoking cessation. Information as well as interactive tools support patients education and it plays a very important role in supporting prevention, wellness as well as management of chronic conditions.
Other studies by managed care organizations have generally indicated that patient teaching is cost-effective. Some of the summary of studies showing the cost-effectiveness of particular patient education programs included:
Chronic pain counseling in an outpatient clinic happened to reduce visits to the clinics by 36%. The cost was $101 per patient. The savings were $312 for each patient, resulting to a cost benefit ratio of 1:3:1.
Asthma group education happened to reduce emergency room admissions as well as hospitalizations. The cost for each patient was $37. The savings were $217 for each patient, resulting to a cost benefit ratio of 1:5:8.
Diabetes education within a public health department happened to reduce hospitalizations by 44%. The cost for each patient was $150. The savings were $442 for each patient, resulting to a cost benefit ratio of 1.29.
Prenatal/nutrition counseling as well as smoking cessation happened to reduce pre-term births from 6.9% up to 1.7%. The cost per patient was $93. The savings were $183, resulting to cost benefit ratio of 1:2.
Asthma pediatric education happened to reduce yearly emergency room visits from 7.4 to 1.9 for each child. The cost for each patient was $180. The savings were $687, resulting to a cost benefit ratio of 1:3:8.
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