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Patient Education
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Patient Education
, Dispelling Health Misinformation
See Also
Patient Communication
Emergency Department Patient Satisfaction
Motivational Interviewing
(
Five Rs Technique
)
Health Risk Behavior Counseling
(
Five As Technique
)
Breaking Bad News
Discussing Terminal Illness
Expressing Empathy
Approach
Patient Education effectiveness relies on the rapport and trust built from the patient-clinician relationship
Sit down during the patient encounter
Use open ended, non-judgmental questions
Assist patients with reliable information they may use in making decisions based on their values
Avoid prescriptive and paternalistic approach
Provide information in small parts and reassess for understanding ("chunking")
Employ anonymized patient stories and clinician experiences where appropriate
Discuss both risks and benefits of recommended testing and treatment
Precautions
Health Misinformation and Disinformation
Definitions
Misinformation
False information not delivered with malice
Disinformation
False information delivered as a deliberate attempt at deception
Patient Education remains an important strategy in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention
As clinicians, we bring an added credibilty and patient trust to Patient Education
U.S. medical certification boards and licensing organizations emphasize reliable information
Clinician spread of misinformation counter to standard of care may result in loss of license, certification
Health disinformation and misinformation risks serious outcomes and death
Covid19
misinformation in 2020-2022 resulted in under-
Vaccination
and mask resistance
Estimated 163,000 excess covid deaths preventable with
Vaccination
U.S. June to November 2021
https://www.healthsystemtracker.org/brief/covid19-and-other-leading-causes-of-death-in-the-us/
FAD Diets and supplements of the late 1900s-2000s
https://quackwatch.org/
Anti-
Vaccination
movements (from
Smallpox
to
Measles
)
https://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/history-anti-vaccination-movements
Medicine shows of the 1800s (e.g. snake oil)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medicine_show
Resources
U.S. Surgeon
Gene
ral Statement regarding health misinformation
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-misinformation-advisory.pdf
Debunking Misinformation as "Science" (Hemmer, CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/28/opinions/covid-history-of-spreading-medical-misinformation-hemmer/index.html
Resources
Healthfinder
http://www.healthfinder.gov
Mayo Clinic
http://www.mayoclinic.com/
JAMA Patient Page
https://jamanetwork.com/collections/6258/patient-information
Family Doctor (AAFP)
http://www.familydoctor.org/
Medline Plus
https://medlineplus.gov/healthtopics.html
References
Barnes, Aust and Leaf (2022) Crit Dec Emerg Med 36(1): 21-25
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