Question

Mr. Martin, an 82-year-old African American patient, is ready for discharge from the medical unit after a 3-day hospitalization resulting from exacerbation of heart failure. Prior to discharge from the hospital, his nurse reviews the medication orders and provides Mr. Martin with standard patient education materials related to control of heart failure symptoms. Explain how the nurse would determine if Mr. Martin could read the instructions.

Answer 1

Ans) CHF exacerbation is a clinical diagnosis based on at least 1 of the following symptoms: exertional dyspnea, fatigue, paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea, orthopnea, cough, early satiety, weight gain, and increasing abdominal girth.

- Medication reconciliation process is effective at preventing adverse drug events. Demonstrating how to do the process effectively or outlining the costs associated with design and implementation of programs. Nonetheless, an effective medication reconciliation process across care settings—where medications a patient is taking are compared to what is being ordered—is believed to reduce errors. Comparing what is being taken in one setting with what is being prescribed in another will avoid errors of omission, drug-drug interactions, drug-disease interactions, and other discrepancies. Medication reconciliation is a major component of safe patient care in any environment.

- Discharge instructions give patients important medical information they need to help them management their own care. If the majority of patients can't understand them, fixing this problem could have a huge financial impact on readmissions.

- The teach-back method is a way of checking understanding by asking patients to state in their own words what they need to know or do about their health. It is a way to confirm that you have explained things in a manner your patients understand. Improve patient understanding and adherence.