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Effectiveness of the Teach-Back Method for Improving Caregivers' Confidence in Caring for Hospice Patients and
Meghan Ryan-Madonna1, Rona F Levin, Bonnie Lauder
1Meghan Ryan-Madonna, DNP, MSN, RN, FNP-C, CPN, is assistant professor of nursing, RN-to-BSN coordinator, and co-simulation coordinator, Department of Nursing, Caldwell University, New Jersey. Rona F. Levin, PhD, RN, is consultant, Healthcare Education and Evidence-Based Practice Improvement, and professor emerita, Felician College, Lodi, New Jersey. Bonnie Lauder, MS, MIS, RN, PMHNP, CPHQ, is director, Hospice Quality Management Services, Visiting Nurse Services of New York.
Abstract:
Health care professionals use teach-back to foster adherence to treatment recommendations and to improve safety and quality of care. This improvement project, conducted in one division of a home care agency, used a pretest-posttest design with an interprofessional group of hospice home care clinicians to incorporate teach-back into home visits to evaluate if the use of teach-back enhanced caregiver and patient-provider communication, improved caregivers' confidence in caring for hospice home care patients, and decreased hospitalizations. After the intervention, the teach-back group had zero hospitalizations compared with 2 for the non-teach-back group (0% and 1.97%, respectively), and patient-caregiver "confidence" increased from 58% to 81%, pre to post intervention. In conclusion, teach-back is a cost-effective teaching methodology that can be implemented by any discipline to improve patient-provider communication and patient outcomes.
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