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Aim This study set out to explore nurses' current contribution to medication education and the clinical contextual factors that influence current practice.
Method Nurses' practice was investigated using a case study approach. Methods used to collect data were: audio-recordings and observation of nurse-patient interactions about medication, post-interaction interviews with nurses and patients, analysis of relevant written documentation and researcher observation and field notes.
Results Findings indicate that nurses' contribution to medication education is commonly limited to giving simple information about medicines, involving the name, purpose, colour, number of tablets and the time and frequency for their administration.
Conclusion Nurse-patient relationships, patterns of contact and philosophy of care were all identified as contributory factors to enabling the practice of medication education in clinical areas.
key words
* Nurse patient relations
* Patients: education
These key words are based
on the subject headings from
the British Nursing Index. This article has been subject to double-blind review.
Introduction
Current healthcare policies and the changing context of health care, driven by social and demographic changes, highlight the importance of the nurse's role in providing education about prescribed medicines to healthcare service users. Changes include an increasing older population, a rise in long-term health problems requiring continuous medication regimes, and faster patient throughput in the acute sector. This has resulted in an increase in self-care in the community including the successful management of medication.
These changes are outlined in the UK government policy document Making a Difference (DoH 1999a). It calls for a strategy to help nurses, midwives and health visitors 'respond to changes in society and in patterns of disease, to the possibilities created by developments in pharmaceuticals and technology, to increasing public expectations and to a challenging new policy agenda' (DoH 1999a).
In the UK, an emphasis on health promotion and disease prevention is outlined in The Health of the Nation (DoH 1992) and reiterated in the White Paper Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation (DoH 1999b). This points to the need for nurses to recognise the importance of information and education about medication as one facet of their health promotion role.
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