PATTI SPARLING DNP, FNP. Improving Patient Self-efficacy by Incorporating Patient Teaching by
Registered Nursing Students in Primary Care
Introduction: Primary care needs to meet the health care needs of a growing population seeking care. A shortage of primary care providers makes scheduling primary care services difficult for patients in underserved areas. Office visits attempt to provide complex care in a short period of time to accomodate more patients. Chronic disease is expensive to treat. When patients have difficulty understanding the plan of treatment, exacerbation of symtpoms can occur. Some patients use urgent care and emergency room services when primay care is not available. Integrating nursing intervention into primary care to enhance available services offers an expanded team of caregivers and improves patient self-efficacy. This project utilizes registered nursing students to interact with patients by presenting educational information about chronic disease.
Methods: Patients with chronic disease seeking care in a primary care clinic participated in a pilot study to evaluate changes in self-efficacy after education about their chronic disease. Thirty-nine adult patients participated. The Self-Efficacy for Managing Chronic Disease 6-Item Scale was used. Registered nursing students participated as patient educators, developed teaching tools and presented chronic disease teaching to patients in the study. The student experience was evaluated using the Student Evaluation of Clinical Education Environment inventory.
Results: A paired t-test was used to evaluate the pre- and post-test patient results. Findings were statistically significant with p=0.000, showing an improvement in patient self-efficacy following the intervention. The student survey also showed a positive learning experience for the students with p=0.000.
Discussion: Enhanced education empowers patients. Socializing student nurses in primary care was shown to be a valuable experience. Continued evaluation and enhancement of primary care services must be done to meet the growing health care demands of our nation.
Keywords: primary care, self-efficacy, student nurses, self-care, patient education