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Pediatric Pearl
PH PATIENT EDUCATION REVIEW C PARTNERING WITH THE PRESENT Educational activities are ideal projects for graduate students who are provided preceptorships by the practice. As an important dimension of advanced nursing practice, assisting in developing and refining patient education resources offers the student an opportunity to grow in the educator aspect of advanced practice, as well as to give something back to the supporting practice. Both graduate and undergraduate students in nursing can provide waiting room learning activities for children and parents. As health services increasingly emphasize prevention and moving out of the hospital, learning experiences such as these are an important opportunity for undergraduate students to develop community health skills and communication skills across ages and stages. For example, say it is early fall and cold season is coming up. Students could develop and run a hand-washing station for children and parents using Glo Germ soap to illustrate and practice good technique. This activity could be coupled with information about correct doses of common over-the-counter fever and cold medications, nonmedicinal cold care strategies, and information about signs and symptoms indicating the need for an office visit.
PARTNERING WITH THE FUTURE The nursing shortage is real and here to stay for the foreseeable future unless
Gottesman
the number of persons choosing nursing as a career increases markedly. By reaching out to area middle and high school students, nurse practitioners can share information about the nursing profession and provide volunteer opportunities for selected students with a strong interest in nursing and the care of children, recruiting the next generation of practitioners. In return for the practitioner’s outreach, motivated and mature students can provide helping hands to copy and organize educational materials, run patient learning stations, or provide waiting room child supervision so that the practitioner has the parent’s attention for teaching. In return, the student learns about health topics and provides a valuable community service that is also useful on college applications.
A FINAL WORD Readers will probably notice the glaring omission of one medium for education, the television/videocassette recorder. This omission was deliberate. Passive education does not result in learning (Doak et al., 1996). Practitioners will do the best educating when they keep the emphasis on interactive means of providing education to children and families. This is particularly true of activity-based instruction that involves the learner and makes good use of down time during health visits. However, video instruction is a
good alternative for parents and children with limited vision or reading ability when print media are simply not an option. Please take a moment to e-mail me your favorite sources of free educational materials, your favorite education strategies, and creative educational ideas for children and parents (my e-mail address is Gottesman.6@osu. edu). This information will appear in subsequent issues for all to enjoy with your compliments and the author’s gratitude.
REFERENCES American Academy of Pediatrics. (1997). Parent and child guides to pediatric visits. Elk Grove Village, IL: Author. Burbach, D. J., & Peterson, L. (1988). Children’s concepts of physical illness: A review and critique of the cognitive-developmental literature. In B. G. Melamed, L. A. Matthews, D. K. Routh, B. Stabler, & N. Schneiderman (Eds.), Child health psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Doak, C. C., Doak, L. G., & Root, J. H. (1996). Teaching patients with low literacy skills (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. Kirsch, I. S., Jungeblut, A., Jenkins, L., & Kolstad, A. (1993). Adult literacy in America. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Knowles, M. S. (1973). The adult learner: A neglected species (2nd ed.). Houston: Gulf Publishing. Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (2000). Health care encounter forms [On-line]. Available: http://www.brightfutures.org/healthform/provider.htm. McComb, T. F., Duffy, M. M., & Pearson, I. P. (2000). Making handouts easy to read. Contemporary Pediatrics, 17, 145-150.
Pediatric Pearl Throat culture made easy To facilitate the process of obtaining a throat culture for a child, ask the child to pant like a dog. Panting will not only open up the child’s mouth to provide ease in swabbing the throat, but it will also keep the child amused during this unpleasant experience. Susan Kulewicz, MS, RN, PNP Former PNP Student at Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC HEALTH CARE
March/April 2001
97
PARTNERING WITH THE FUTURE The nursing shortage is real and here to stay for the foreseeable future unless
Gottesman
the number of persons choosing nursing as a career increases markedly. By reaching out to area middle and high school students, nurse practitioners can share information about the nursing profession and provide volunteer opportunities for selected students with a strong interest in nursing and the care of children, recruiting the next generation of practitioners. In return for the practitioner’s outreach, motivated and mature students can provide helping hands to copy and organize educational materials, run patient learning stations, or provide waiting room child supervision so that the practitioner has the parent’s attention for teaching. In return, the student learns about health topics and provides a valuable community service that is also useful on college applications.
A FINAL WORD Readers will probably notice the glaring omission of one medium for education, the television/videocassette recorder. This omission was deliberate. Passive education does not result in learning (Doak et al., 1996). Practitioners will do the best educating when they keep the emphasis on interactive means of providing education to children and families. This is particularly true of activity-based instruction that involves the learner and makes good use of down time during health visits. However, video instruction is a
good alternative for parents and children with limited vision or reading ability when print media are simply not an option. Please take a moment to e-mail me your favorite sources of free educational materials, your favorite education strategies, and creative educational ideas for children and parents (my e-mail address is Gottesman.6@osu. edu). This information will appear in subsequent issues for all to enjoy with your compliments and the author’s gratitude.
REFERENCES American Academy of Pediatrics. (1997). Parent and child guides to pediatric visits. Elk Grove Village, IL: Author. Burbach, D. J., & Peterson, L. (1988). Children’s concepts of physical illness: A review and critique of the cognitive-developmental literature. In B. G. Melamed, L. A. Matthews, D. K. Routh, B. Stabler, & N. Schneiderman (Eds.), Child health psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Doak, C. C., Doak, L. G., & Root, J. H. (1996). Teaching patients with low literacy skills (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott. Kirsch, I. S., Jungeblut, A., Jenkins, L., & Kolstad, A. (1993). Adult literacy in America. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Knowles, M. S. (1973). The adult learner: A neglected species (2nd ed.). Houston: Gulf Publishing. Maternal and Child Health Bureau. (2000). Health care encounter forms [On-line]. Available: http://www.brightfutures.org/healthform/provider.htm. McComb, T. F., Duffy, M. M., & Pearson, I. P. (2000). Making handouts easy to read. Contemporary Pediatrics, 17, 145-150.
Pediatric Pearl Throat culture made easy To facilitate the process of obtaining a throat culture for a child, ask the child to pant like a dog. Panting will not only open up the child’s mouth to provide ease in swabbing the throat, but it will also keep the child amused during this unpleasant experience. Susan Kulewicz, MS, RN, PNP Former PNP Student at Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio
JOURNAL OF PEDIATRIC HEALTH CARE
March/April 2001
97