APMA News - July/August 2018 - 28

Coverage Corner
By Barbara Bellione, RN, CPHRM, ARM,
director of Risk Management, PICA

Engaging Your Patients through
Effective Communication
How many times have you provided instructions
to patients only to find out later the patient did not
understand? It probably happens frequently.
While you may think you are an effective communicator, many patients will forget or not understand the information received, which may
contribute to poor patient adherence and outcomes-which in turn contribute to lawsuits. To improve patient adherence and outcomes, it is imperative to
engage patients in their own health care. They need to clearly
understand the diagnosis, treatment, and their active role in
their health-care plan.
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
published "The Guide to Improving Patient Safety in Primary
Care Settings by Engaging Patients and Families." The guide
is a compilation of evidence-based best practices for improving
patient safety through patient, family, and caregiver engagement. One of the evidence-based best practices is "teach-back,"
a technique for health-care providers to ensure that they have
explained medical information clearly so patients and their families understand what is communicated to them.

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28 APMA News July/August 2018

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Incorporating teach-back and engaging your patients may
initially increase office visit time by a minute or two, but the gain
in patient understanding and compliance can decrease overall
time in the long run. Adherence and outcomes will improve
when patients understand what they are supposed to do and
why. You should see a reduced no-show rate because patients
understand why they need to follow up. Additionally, you
should receive fewer calls with questions because you ensured
the patient understood your message during the office visit. Bottom line: Patient engagement is a valuable investment that will
yield many benefits.
n

This article is not intended to constitute legal advice or create an attorney-
client relationship, but is intended for general information only. An attorney
or other resource should be consulted regarding individual cases.

For more information, contact the PICA Risk Management department at 800-251-5727, ext. 2107, or visit
www.picagroup.com.

Talking graphic by Shutterstock/Icon Craft Studio.

Get
Your
Foot in
the Door

Teach-back is an easy-to-use method that can
be used by podiatrists and their staff to ensure effective communication with patients. If you ask
your patients whether they have any questions,
they will often say they don't. They may be embarrassed to say they don't really understand what
you told them. When using teach-back, you instead
ask patients to explain in their own words their
diagnosis, treatment plan, medications, home-care instructions, use of a new device, treatment options, etc. If the patient
teaches-back incorrectly, you will know you need to rephrase
your message until the patient understands.
The guide, including teach-back training tools, is available
on the AHRQ website at https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/
quality-patient-safety/patient-family-engagement/pfeprimary
care/interventions.html.
Additional ways to engage your patient include:
avoiding the use of medical jargon and adapting your
words to the level of the patient;
using pictures and diagrams to aid in patient education;
providing written instructions in language the patient
understands;
actively listening to the patient;
including the patient in the decision-making process;
encouraging the patient to communicate freely; and
answering the patient's questions.

https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patient-family-engagement/pfeprimarycare/interventions.html https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/patient-family-engagement/pfeprimarycare/interventions.html http://www.apma.org/careercenter http://www.picagroup.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of APMA News - July/August 2018