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As a healthcare educator, you can:
• Find out about your patient’s interests and past experiences.
• Assist in drawing on those experiences when problem-solving, reflecting, and
applying reasoning processes.
• Facilitate reflective learning opportunities that can also assist the patient to
examine existing biases or habits based on life experiences and move the patient
toward a new understanding of information presented.
3. Adults are goal-oriented and usually know what they want to attain
– Adults
become ready to learn when they experience a need to learn it in order to cope more
satisfyingly with real-life tasks or problems.
As a healthcare educator, you can:
• Provide meaningful learning experiences that are clearly linked to patient goals.
• Provide real case-studies as a basis from which to learn about effectiveness of
the information you’re providing.
• Ask questions that motivate reflection and inquiry.
4. Adults are relevancy-oriented
– Adult learners want to know the relevance of what
they are learning to what they want
to achieve.
As a healthcare educator, you can:
• Explain how even modest weight loss among people with knee OA has been
shown to produce meaningful improvements in physical function, self-reported
disability, pain symptoms and quality of life. Overweight and obese adults with
knee OA who lose just one pound gain a four-fold reduction in knee joint load.
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5. Adults are practical
– Educators should focus on the aspects of the information most
achievable and easily implemented by their patient.
As a healthcare educator, you can:
• Clearly explain your clinical reasoning when prioritizing your patient’s clinical
needs.
• Be explicit about how what the patient is learning is useful and applicable to the
patient’s medical condition.
• Promote active participation by allowing patients to try things rather than
observe. For example, you can provide plenty of practice opportunity in menu
planning and exercise strategies in order to promote development of skill,
confidence, and competence.
6. As do all learners, adults should be shown respect
– Educators should
acknowledge the wealth of experiences that adult
participants bring to the discussion.
As a healthcare educator, you can show respect by:
• Taking genuine interest in your patient.
• Not assuming you know why the patient is obese.