Health education is a crucial component of healthcare that enhances awareness about various disease courses thus helping patients to lead healthy lives. Effective patient education endeavors should strive to meet the precise needs of patients by ensuring that pertinent health information is delivered effectively and promptly. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the health education, health promotion information, and strategies that should be used when working with asthma patients. An asthma action plan is also explained.
Health Education and Health Promotion Information and Strategy When Working with Asthma Patients
Self-management is a crucial skill in the management of asthma. Its purpose is to attain better health by managing and preventing asthma attacks. Therefore, health education for patients with asthma should strive to enhance the comprehension of asthma, its diagnosis, and treatment as well as how to live a quality life with the disease by managing its symptoms (Bäuerle, Feicke, Scherer, Spörhase, & Bitzer, 2017).
Clinicians should emphasize six key areas when educating asthma patients: treatment aims, prospects, quality of life, the patient’s responsibility in self-management, education needs, and practical solutions. Patients should be informed about the importance of treating respiratory conditions promptly to avoid prompting asthma attacks (Bäuerle et al., 2017).
Strategies for conveying the health information include using simple language to eliminate uncertainties and teach-back approaches where the healthcare provider asks the patient to reiterate information in a step by step manner. This strategy helps patients to grasp the important components of an education session and ask for clarification where necessary.
An Asthma Action Plan
An asthma action plan can be defined as a written course of action that guides patients in the management of their asthma (Borgmeyer, Gyr, Ahmad, Ercole, & Balakas, 2017). Its purpose is to minimize exacerbations and reduce asthma-related medical emergencies. Evidence-based guidelines put forth by the National Institutes for Health have been used to develop asthma action plans (CDC, 2019). However, each asthma patient requires a customized action plan that is specific to their needs.
One advantage of an asthma action plan is that it is a one-stop point for all asthma management information. Components of an asthma action plan include specific drugs to take every day, how to identify improvements or deteriorations in asthma progression and the best course of action. Details concerning asthma exacerbations and how to handle them are also provided. Studies show that adhering to an action plan lowers the likelihood of hospital stays among asthma patients (Anise & Hasnain-Wynia, 2016; Kelso, 2016).
Asthma action plans should be developed and reviewed by a patient together with his or her healthcare provider. Crucial self-management skills that should be considered during this process encompass the recognition of the intensity and frequency of asthma symptoms as well as reassessing the symptoms of deterioration that warrant therapeutic modifications. Such indications include interrupted sleep, low tolerance levels for physical activity, and increased drug use. Patients should keep copies of the action plan with them and ensure that close family and friends also have the same information to facilitate correct intervention in emergency situations. Patients should also carry copies of their action plans every time they visit their healthcare providers.
Conclusion
Even though asthma is a chronic disease that may alter the quality of life, affected patients can still lead normal lives if they are aware of the do’s and don’ts of asthma management. Education allows healthcare workers to empower asthma patients in effective self-management. Clear instructions summarized in an asthma action plan using a simplified language are necessary to ensure that patients understand how to control their asthma.
References
Anise, A., & Hasnain-Wynia, R. (2016). Patient-centered outcomes research to improve asthma outcomes. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 138(6), 1503-1510.
Bäuerle, K., Feicke, J., Scherer, W., Spörhase, U., & Bitzer, E. M. (2017). Evaluation of a standardized patient education program for inpatient asthma rehabilitation: Impact on patient-reported health outcomes up to one year. Patient Education and Counseling, 100(5), 957-965.
Borgmeyer, A., Gyr, P. M., Ahmad, E., Ercole, P. M., & Balakas, K. (2017). Pediatric nurse practitioners effective in teaching providers the Asthma Action Plan using simulation. Journal of Pediatric Nursing, 34, 53-57.
CDC. (2019). Asthma action plan. Web.
Kelso, J. M. (2016). Do written asthma action plans improve outcomes? Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology, 29(1), 2-5.