Education, Patient

Synonyms

Health education

Definition

Patient education is a basic step in medical care, reflecting empowering patients with knowledge on the risk of or nature of an illness, how to prevent it, how to perform self-care, and when to seek help. Patient education can be provided by physicians, nurses, physiotherapists, health psychologists, etc. and is a basic part of adequate clinician-patient communication. This can be seen as part of health education, where people learn to prevent, identify the signs, seek treatment for an illness, and perform self-care behaviors when ill. This reflects the move in medicine from a hierarchical doctor-patient style toward a more self-managed and active patient role. Patient education can include information on the consequences of smoking and excessive alcohol consumption, use of condoms and the consequences of not using condoms, how to perform self-monitoring and management of insulin levels in diabetic patients, and adherence to medical treatment in...