How to build competence and skills as a patient education manager
PEMs must keep up to date on changing health care industry to meet needs of patients and staff
It’s vital in a volatile health care environment that patient education managers develop basic skills needed to excel in their job and build on them. The level of experience required initially depends on the job duties at a specific institution, says Louise Villejo, MPH, CHES, director of patient education at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. At some locations, patient education is only 20% of the job description, while in other situations, the PEM oversees several employees and management experience is required.
While initial expertise depends on the job description, polishing skills to become expert in the field should always be a goal. With cutbacks at many health care facilities, job security can be an issue, so PEMs will want to continually build on their knowledge to be a valuable asset to the organization.
Embracing new ideas as well as self-directed learning will help PEMs prepare for the challenges of the future in the field. Most agree that technology is becoming an integral piece of patient education, meaning PEMs must learn about it and maintain their level of knowledge. "We need to know enough about the Internet and computer-assisted instruction to be able to understand its potential and make sure we incorporate it into our programs," says Annette Mercurio, MPH, CHES, director of Health Education Services at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, CA.
Yet, no matter the scope of the position, there are certain competencies that are a part of the job. Program development skills is one of these, says Villejo. "It’s important to be familiar with the big picture on how a program is developed. If there are a lot of steps missing in the process, it won’t hang together after you finish," she explains.
Program development must be a collaborative, interdisciplinary process beginning with a needs assessment and finishing with a method in place to evaluate outcomes.
Collecting data, such as the reasons for hospital admissions or the most common diagnoses, is an important skill because it helps the patient education manager set priorities, says Mercurio.
The ability to research topics or help staff do the research is a key skill as well. "A patient education manager should know where to go for information to meet patient education needs, whether it be through medical journals, books, or the Internet," says Kathy Ordelt, RN, patient and family education coordinator at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Those who have weak research skills should pair with a medical librarian for a few hours, she advises.
Because PEMs often are called upon to develop patient education handouts or provide guidance in the process, writing and editorial talent is a good skill to have. Also, an understanding of the principles of learning is necessary, says Nell Kapeghian, MSN, RN, patient care services program director at Deborah Heart & Lung Center in Browns Mills, NJ.
"It would be a good idea for the person coming into the position to know what makes a pamphlet or handout readable to the patient," she explains. These are all skills that can be learned in a class.
A working knowledge of the health care system in which you work must be developed rapidly, says Barb Petersen, RN, patient education coordinator at Great Plains Regional Medical Center in North Platte, NE. Knowing what process patients go through from admission to discharge not only helps determine the need for patient education programs, but also helps in materials development.
Being organizationally savvy also helps you know what you need to do and whom you need to include to get a project off the ground successfully. "It helps you understand what actions or what people are vital to the success of a project within your organization," says Donette E. Lasher, MAT, patient and family education coordinator at York (PA) Health System. The ability to negotiate with strong-willed people helps in program development as well.
Time management skills also are necessary, says Petersen. PEMs must be able to prioritize projects because many demands are placed on their time and they need to work out an appropriate schedule. "Organize and prioritize your projects according to which will benefit your patients the most," she advises. Management skills are often taught by the health care institution, but if not, there are many books, tapes, and classes available. (For information on how PEMs can develop their role as internal consultant, see article on p. 64.)
Growing in the field
To become an expert in the field, don’t be afraid to take on new challenges, says Petersen. When someone approaches you with a project or new idea, don’t be so quick to label it impossible because of funding or time crunches.
"Go after those new ideas and see what you can do to make a difference in education to benefit the patient. Health care is changing so fast, I think it is easy to get in a rut and not want to take on those challenges," she explains.
When challenges arise, it helps to have a good network, says Sharon Sweeting, MS, RD, LD, CDE, patient and family education coordinator at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami. "You need to know where to go for information and who to talk to, both in your area and nationally," she says.
Posing questions on a listserv (such as the Patient Education Network) is beneficial, as is contacting experts who write journal articles. Telephoning colleagues locally and nationally is helpful as well. Sweeting finds the e-mail addresses in Patient Education Management helpful, and has good luck locally by simply calling a health care facility and asking the operator for the patient education department. (See editor’s note at the end of this article for information on patient education listservs.)
PEMs must have a strong commitment to self-directed learning, which entails attending workshops and conferences and doing a lot of reading, often on their own time, says Cezanne Garcia, MPH, CHES, manager of Patient and Family Education Services at University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle.
"To become expert in your field, you must embrace an attitude of always being a learner, and even after you have reached a certain confidence in skills or knowledge, you know there is always room to grow," she says.
Keeping up to date on changes in health care is important because interest in complementary therapies is growing rapidly among health care consumers. PEMs need to learn all they can about complementary therapies and figure out how to integrate them into patient education programs, says Kapeghian.
The need to reach diverse populations also is a growing challenge, says Villejo. This not only includes different ethnic groups with various literacy skills, but an aging population as well. "We will need to work to reach these populations with the education they need," she says.
The change in the way health care is delivered also puts more demands on patient education managers. The trend toward mergers affects patient education whenever two or more diverse programs are blended into one new systemwide process, says Ordelt.
Ordelt learned, when working through a merger of two pediatric hospitals, that the process goes more smoothly if the teams working on the project can be flexible when looking for the best practice, which might be a method that is new to both health care facilities, she says.
Funding for health care education is becoming more and more limited, so patient education managers will need to seek outside support for some of the new programs they want to launch. With this in mind, it is important to develop grant-writing skills, says Mercurio. "In general, we must stay current on the changing face of health care and the demands on hospitals today," she explains. (For more tips on becoming more effective and efficient in the role of patient education manager, see article on p. 63.)
(Editor’s note: Find information on how to use the Patient Education Network listserv on the University of Utah Hospital and Clinics’ Web site at www.med. utah.edu/pated/patednet.)
For more information on competencies for patient education managers, contact:
• Cezanne Garcia, MPH, CHES, Manager, Patient & Family Education services, 1959 N.E. Pacific St., Box 356052, Seattle, WA 98195-6052. Telephone: (206) 598-8424. Fax: (206) 598-7821. E-mail: ccgarcia@ u.washington.edu.
• Nell Kapeghian, MSN, RN, Patient Care Services Program Director, Deborah Heart & Lung Center, 200 Trenton Road, Browns Mills, NJ 08015. Telephone: (609) 893-1200 ext. 5258. Fax: (609) 893-1209. E-mail: [email protected].
• Donette E. Lasher, MAT, Patient and Family Education Coordinator, York Health System, 1001 South George St., York, PA 17405. Telephone: (717) 851-3081. Fax: (717) 851-3049. E-mail: [email protected].
• Annette Mercurio, MPH, CHES, Director of Health Education Services, City of Hope National Medical Center, 1500 East Duarte Road, Duarte, CA 91010-0269. Telephone: (626) 301-8926. Fax: (626) 301-8868. E-mail: [email protected].
• Kathy Ordelt, RN, Patient & Family Education Coordinator, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, 1001 Johnson Ferry Road N.E., Atlanta, GA 30342. Telephone: (404) 929-8641. Fax: (404) 929-8690. E-mail: kathy. [email protected].
• Barb Petersen, RN, Patient Education Coordinator, Great Plains Regional Medical Center, 601 West Leota, North Platte, NE 69101. Telephone: (308) 535-8640. Fax: (308) 535-7473. E-mail: [email protected].
• Sharon Sweeting, MS, RD, LD, CDE, Patient & Family Education Coordinator, Department of Education and Development, Jackson Memorial Hospital, Jackson Medical Towers-7th Floor East, Miami, FL 33136. Telephone: (305) 585-8168. Fax: (305) 326-7982. E-mail: [email protected].
• Louise Villejo, MPH, CHES, Director of Patient Education, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe-Box 21, Houston, TX 77030. Telephone: (713) 792-7128. Fax: (713) 794-5379. E-mail: [email protected].
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