Patient Teaching Reflection

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Patient teaching is a big part of the nurse's role as it helps prevent further complications from arising and overall improving the patient's quality of life. It is our responsibility to fully educate our patients about their condition to guide them through the right direction.
During clinical I got the opportunity to educate a 79-year-old patient with COPD on ways to improve his quality of life back at home. He already had all the complications that could arise from not managing COPD properly, so all we could do at this point was to teach him ways to manage his fatigue and shortness of breath. He was fully able and willing to learn and was competent enough to understand the teaching. He had no language or cultural barriers that prevented successful teaching from occurring. …show more content…

The short-term goal was to be able to climb up one more step up the staircase than the day before. While the long term was being able to climb all the way up without stopping and feeling extremely fatigued. According to the COPD Foundation, incorporating some type of movement or exercise a day can change the way the patient feels, breaths, and functions over time. Techniques to improve breathing and reduce anxiety were also explained. The patient was educated on diaphragmatic breathing by breathing slowly through the nose while placing the hand on the stomach and feeling it rise, then exhaling slowly through the mouth by feeling the hand move inward ("Best Breathing Exercises," 2018). Other topics addressed during the teaching session were ways to prevent fatigue like clustering care and resting when needed, the importance of proper nutrition, and the importance of hygiene to prevent any possible infections from arising (Lippincott,

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