The teach-back technique Do not ask a patient, “Do you understand?”
• Instead, ask patients to explain or demonstrate how they will undertake a recommended
treatment or intervention.
• If the patient does not explain correctly, assume that you have not provided adequate teaching. Reteach the information using alternate approaches.
In using the teach-back technique, clinicians take responsibility for adequate teaching. If patients cannot explain or demonstrate what they should do, clinicians must assume that they did not provide patients with an adequate explanation or understandable instructions. The result should be new efforts to ensure that patients learn what they need to know. And, of course, it is important not to appear rushed, annoyed, or bored during these efforts—your affect must agree with your words.
That is an excellent idea! We have been spending time at the doctor's office lately and the last visit was an eye opener. The doctor prescribed some pills and since we went in for pain, we assumed they were pain pills. We found out they were not and called the doctor. He explained what he had said during our visit and now that he mentioned it, it came back to us. We are reasonably intelligent people. How did we so thoroughly misunderstand? Go figure, huh?
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