Nurses are often urged to help patients learn about their illness and the self-management measures that may enable them to achieve a degree of independence after they have left hospital. However, little has been written about the practical process of facilitating patient learning while the patient makes sense of their circumstances and considers what they can do to manage any necessary lifestyle changes. Educational articles tend to focus on programmed learning, such as educational courses delivered to groups of patients with similar conditions. This article assists the nurse in reviewing what learning might entail for a patient and to explore why this type of learning is different to learning in other circumstances.
Nursing Standard. 30, 2, 51-60. doi: 10.7748/ns.30.2.51.e10145
Correspondence Peer reviewAll articles are subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software.
Received: 21 May 2015
Accepted: 11 June 2015
or
Alternatively, you can purchase access to this article for the next seven days. Buy now
Are you a student? Our student subscription has content especially for you.
Find out more