4. Core 4 - Education
Educational Content
Having a theme or topic for each visit can be helpful for planning purposes and for focusing the discussion during the session. The topics you choose can all be preplanned or you can allow your patients to have input on what future sessions should cover. There might be topics that are relevant or unique to your clinic patients.
Be creative and have fun. For example, some teams have done seasonal or holiday-inspired sessions.
You will need to decide who will lead each session. Will it be clinic staff or would a guest speaker be better for the topic? If using a guest speaker, have a backup plan in case the speaker cancels at the last minute.
| Topics to Consider |
| What is diabetes? |
| Self-management goals |
| Nutrition |
| Physical activity |
| Medication management |
| Stress and mental health |
| Foot care |
| Dental care |
| …and more! |
Deciding on a Curriculum
There are many great resources available. Consider the needs of your patients, including language. In addition to online resources, there may be resources available in your community. For example, the local health department, State Extension Agent, professional organizations, and specialists such as podiatrists, pharmacists, dentists, and ophthalmologists.
Health Literacy
90 million Americans have some difficulty with health literacy, which refers to the skills that an individual needs to obtain, navigate, and understand basic healthcare and services. It is necessary to take health literacy into consideration when preparing your curriculum. It is important to use the same approach to address every patient’s health literacy needs.
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- The key is to provide information to all patients using simple and everyday language. This means using short sentences and defining technical terms.
- Focus on the key concepts and avoid the use of medical jargon or abbreviations.
- Organize the information so that the most important points stand out and repeat this information.
- Use the “Teach Back” Method by asking a patient to explain your instructions in their own words.
- Have the patient demonstrate the procedure.
Presenting Educational Material
Written material should be kept at a minimum.
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- If you are going to use written material make sure that it is written at a 4th to 6th grade reading level. It is important to have a lot of white space, not just “words on a page”.
- Use pictures and photos with concise captions. Avoid words or sentences all in capital letters and using italics. Keep most sentences short, using only one and two syllable words if possible.
Interactive approach is a must.
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- This starts with who you choose to present the information at each session. The information needs to be delivered in a positive format that provides motivation and time for sharing of information and questions from the patients.
- Some techniques that help are role play, use of visuals (such as portion sizes, amount of sugar or fat in favorite foods), videos (YouTube is a great resource), and entertainment (games).
- Some clinics have provided their patients with personalized worksheets for self-management goals, and/or notebooks and folders for all the information provided.