Patient education in ambulatory care.

Quality patient education is being demanded both by consumers and by health professionals. Nursing must meet this challenge by updating the attitudes of nurses and by improving their abilities and skills in developing and implementing planned patient education programs. Application to patient education of educational theory and of teaching-learning principles improves the quality and effectiveness of the programs. This can be demonstrated by improved compliance rates, decrease in number of hospital re-admissions, and decreased morbidity. A hospital or agency committee set up to organize and coordinate the various educational programs can help to stimulate development of programs, control quality, and avoid duplication of effort.