Teach Back Method - Nursing Patient Education Essay

The Impact of the Teach Back Method on Improving Patient Health Literacy

Jamie Quirk

Cleveland State University





      Abstract




      This paper will address the nursing problem of the impact of low health literacy on the quality and cost of healthcare.   The purpose is to review studies in an attempt to determine whether or not the teach back method is an effective strategy to improve patient comprehension and to overcome barriers to health literacy.   From the studies reviewed, the reader will find that the teach back method is an important and effective method to improve patient comprehension and is most effective when used regularly by all members of the health care team.
      This author's recommendation for best practice is to work to incorporate improving health literacy in her daily practice by using the teach back method with all patients and their families.   It is a very effective tool to assess understanding.
      Keywords:   Nursing, Patient education, Teach back, Teach back method






The Impact of the Teach Back Method on Improving Patient Health Literacy

Introduction
Teach back is an important method that is being utilized for patient education in many areas of the Cleveland Clinic and its regional hospitals.   The language used in medical consents and patient information handouts and pamphlets is often above the reading level of an average patient in the United States.   Explanations for homegoing care given at discharge by medical personnel are sometimes not understood because patients are more concerned about getting home and don't really pay attention to what is being explained to them.   The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether adding a teach back element into documents and discharge instructions provides an effective way to evaluate patient understanding.
      Literature Search
The search engines used were CINAHL, Medline Plus, GoogleScholar and Pub Med.   They were searched for research...