The Importance of Patient Education

Patients who understand their health, treat their health.

Providers are inundated with how important it is to have an engaged patient base. We are consistently posting blogs about finding ways to interact with your patients and have them interact in their own care plans. Patient engagement and patient education go hand-in-hand. In order for a patient to be engaged in their treatment plans, make informed decisions, and ask questions, they have to have an understanding of their health. In order to do this, we need to put an emphasis on patient education.

Here is why patient education is crucial to your patients and your practice…

Integrated Care

We WANT our patients to be involved in their healthcare treatment plans, right? This means that they are more likely to pick up their medications and follow through with advice given by their providers. If patients understand their care, they make more informed decisions and can help providers mold the care plan. When patients and providers are able to work together, patients preferences are taken into account, and providers can better guide them through a treatment plan that will be successful.

At Home Educational Tools

Let’s face it… providers can tell patients exactly what to do and exactly how to do it while they’re at the office, but do they remember it when they get home? Some do, maybe even most, but ultimately, they may second guess their own memory. This is why it is crucial for your practice to provide reference material that patients can take home.

When providers are able to offer reference materials or websites that patients can view at home, they are encouraging active engagement in education of health initiatives. Clinical decision support tools provides educational materials that both providers and patients can utilize. It provides visual tools, treatment plan information, and more. According to one study done by JMIR Human Factors, tools that provide multiple sources, summaries, and informative blog posts aid in helping patients educate themselves outside of the practice setting.

Benefits of Patient Education:

Above are the two main reasons why education tools in healthcare are crucial, but now we will dive into the other benefits patient education provides. The following are benefits that the provider will see…

• Less prescription abandonment due to understanding why the medication is crucial to recovery.
• More follow through with treatment plans due to understanding of the disease/illness.
• Patient education leads to better patient satisfaction with providers and their overall care.
• Educational plans can reduce provider’s liability.
• An increase is compliance of treatment plans can lead to an overall reduced cost for patients.

Patient education makes all of the difference. Inevitably, it can mean the difference between a patient participating in their care plan and letting it go by the way side. Introducing patient education tools into your practice can lead to improved health outcomes. What’s stopping your practice from taking the leap, or, how does your practice do this now? Let us know!

Are you ready to learn more about patient education tools available with MicroMD? Visit our website here or call us at 880-624-8832.