Utilizing a New Diagnosis Toolkit to Increase Patient Empowerment and Coping

Stewart, Felicia Dawn

Monday, 18 November 2013

Felicia Dawn Stewart, DNP, NP-C
Department of Advanced Practice Nursing, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to identify three key items to include in the new diagnosis toolkit.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to identify three purposes of the new diagnosis toolkit

Sometimes innovation precedes scientific inquiry. Such was the case with the new diagnosis toolkit. Sometimes things are simply born out of necessity during a real-life experiences. I developed this new diagnosis toolkit when my parents were both diagnosed with advanced cancers (2 weeks apart) in January 2008 as a way to organize their health information and prepare for appointments, treatments, and communicate their various needs with my siblings. Following my father’s death later that year, my mother (a retired nurse) and I expanded our initial efforts and explored how this tool could help other people.

Following my mother’s death in 2010, I entered a DNP program and wanted to further refine this tool. After witnessing first-hand the difference a toolkit such as this could make, I started asking two key questions: Why did it work so well? and Could this toolkit be further developed to help others who find themselves in the wake following a life-changing diagnosis? I explored the evidence to support the rationale for why such a kit seemed to be helpful to patients andintegrated the toolkit into my scholarly work. It became one of the various features of the health ministry I was developing for my church where I was the faith community nurse.

The evidence I uncovered support the use of innovations such as the new diagnosis toolkit for patient empowerment. The toolkit is a way for patients and families to organize information, avoid repetition, rely less on memory, reduce paperwork, and prepare for future appointments. Most of all, the toolkit provides a mechanism for patients and families to relieve their minds of the information overload so they may be able to concentrate on life and loved ones.

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