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Referring to the launch of 25 healthcare education clinics by the university, Associate Professor of MUMS Department of Nursing and Social Health and secretary of the university’s Self-Care Committee said, “These are located next to medical clinics where physicians visit patients, and are staffed by experienced nurses, and inform outpatients and their families on such topics as diet, medications, acceptable and unacceptable activities, and self-care.” According to Webda, Dr. Fatemeh Heshmati Nabavi added, “This is a new service by Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, started in an attempt to systematically offer required knowledge to the public.” She emphasized that the university is at the beginning of its path, saying, “In fact, the issue of educating patients is not a new one in medical sciences, but the university's Self-Care Education Committee tries to organize, monitor and control hospital-based [public] education services as a policy-making center.” Dr. Heshmati referred to nursing as the oldest discipline in the world providing educational services to patients and continued, “Since 1993, international accreditation systems ask hospitals and health centers to educate and inform patients and their families.” She said, “Since 2003, this has been recognized as a team activity, and not only nurses but also physicians and all health care providers are tasked with giving the necessary information to patients. With its health-centered perspective, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences tries to empower patients and their families by appropriate education in order that they can properly take care of themselves and treatment cost can thereby be reduced. Clear guidelines were developed at the university so that each hospital decides how to inform its patients, how to offer this service, and determine whether or not the service produces the desired impact.” She referred to the lack of educational aids, standard educational materials, educational spaces, and registration forms as some of the reasons why patients are not adequately informed in medical centers. “In 2012, when establishing Patient Education Committee at Nursing Management Unit of the university, efforts were made to resolve existing problems, and from the very beginning a standard form was included for registering patient education activities in medical records. Accordingly, every patient admitted to the hospital will have an ‘education’ form in their medical record, in which we register such information as how nurses provide information to them, the [type of] information provided, and the outcomes of this practice. Due to time shortage, part of the information is offered in the form of leaflets and pamphlets, prepared by the committee thanks to the collective efforts of faculty members and students of School of Nursing. These include 140 standard educational materials covering common nosocomial problems,” she continued. Dr. Heshmati noted that previously nobody was officially responsible for this service at the university, and each of the hospitals decided on their own how to educate their patients. But now the work is systematically pursued and a supervisory team examines the service and its outcomes and finds bottlenecks in the process. She finally added, “Opening healthcare education clinics for outpatients in 25 hospitals of the university this year is another important point. It is an attempt to provide educational services to outpatients so that they can preserve their health using these tutorials. According to a memorandum of understanding signed between School of Nursing and Midwifery and Ghaem Hospital, faculty members of the school attend the healthcare education clinic of that hospital to actively participate in the important area of patient education.” |