Teaching and Coaching

The teaching-coaching function of the domains of nursing practice is a very important aspect that nurses must practice to be effective. We learn many things from textbooks, clinical environments and job placements; but I think some of the most valuable lessons and skills that I have learned were from my fellow nurses and other healthcare providers while on the job. I work with adolescents on a daily basis that are cognitively impaired that need to be taught many life skills.
The competencies that I want to emphasize in my post are the first that is listed which is; “Timing: Capturing a Patient’s Readiness to Learn”. This one particular patient that was on my unit was a 14 year old male that was being resistant to the teaching of proper use of his metered dose inhaler. The patient did not want to accept the fact that he had asthma. He stated that the only reason that he has shortness of breath was, “because I smoke too many cigarettes”. I recognized that the patient just simply wasn’t ready to learn at this time. Assessing where a patient is, how open he is to information, deciding when to go ahead even when the patient does not appear ready, are key aspects of effective patient teaching” (Benner, 2001). So I waited a few hours later and gathered some information about asthma and the benefits of using the inhaler. After hours upon hours of speaking with the patient, he was finally able to realize that the inhaler would give him a better quality of life when used correctly. This was about a month ago, and the patient is now using the inhaler as needed, the correct way.
This may seem like a small achievement to some, but I felt very complete when I went home that night after speaking with this patient. Thank you for reading my post, I look forward to reading your feedback. James 5:15 – And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. Reference Benner, P. (2001). From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.