Orthopaedic patient education practice

AimThe aim of this study was to explore orthopaedic nurses' perceptions of patient education practice; the educational skills of a nurse, the content, structure and educational approaches to patient education and its changes during nine years at a university hospital in Finland.MethodsThe subjects of this survey were orthopaedic nurses at one university hospital – 56 nurses in 2001 and 51 nurses in 2010.ResultsOn the whole, no statistically significant change had taken place in the nurses' patient education skills in the two periods compared. In 2001, the nurses discussed more often the learning objectives with patients compared to 2010. In both years, individual education sessions and written material were often used. In both years, the bio-physiological area of patient education was found to be dealt with most adequately, while the social area received less attention in 2010 than in 2001.ConclusionsAccording to our results, no change in a positive direction in nurses' patient education skills and the implementation of patient education can be seen over the past decade. The results of the study indicate clear development needs in patient education practice.