Learning styles and teaching strategies: enhancing the patient education experience

Enhancing the effectiveness of patient education efforts is a key goal for any health care provider involved in patient care. Nurses have limited time to review many important topics of education for patients in the rehabilitation process. Assessing the learning style of patients and then focusing teaching strategies to meet those individual styles can increase motivation, improve retention, and make the teaching-learning session more effective. This article will provide the reader with some practical information, usable tools, and additional resources to meet Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards and improve the delivery of patient education. Nurses attuned to the individual needs of patients, including learning styles, will find that this article has important information that can be applied to the clinical setting.