Devising standards for patient education in a teaching hospital

The Patient Education Committee's work to develop patient education standards and criteria has been a challenging and positive experience for the committee members. Some questions about the standards and criteria have yet to be answered, and further refinement may be indicated by future monitoring and evaluation activities. For example, the question still remains of how realistic, achievable, and measureable are the standards. Work on patient education standards continues. Excellence in patient education will only be achieved when nurses are fully committed to it as an integral part of nursing care, when issues related to evaluation are clearly and consistently addressed, and when the process of patient education is continually refined to achieve effective outcomes and desired behavioral changes. Developing standards and working within the QA context is the first step along the path to high-quality patient education.