Liaisons are department troubleshooters
Will any staff member work well as a patient education liaison? In order for the liaison to provide a vital link between patient care areas and the education department, he or she must be interested in patient education. "A good liaison wants to make sure the patient and family get taught what they need to know," says Rita Smith, MSN, RN, education coordinator for Provena Mercy Center in Aurora, IL.
The liaisons at Provena Mercy Center are all registered nurses, but their levels of experience vary widely. There are nurses participating in the liaison program who have just graduated from school, as well as nurses that have been working for 20 years, says Smith.
To find staff best suited for the job of patient education liaisons, talk to the managers and directors of the patient care areas and ask for recommendations, advises Smith. Tell them the person must be interested in patient education and be comfortable teaching patients and families.
You must pick the right people for a liaison program to succeed, says Sara Swanson, health educator at Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle. "Choose those who want to be liaisons, who have a passion for patient education and will make the time to complete their liaison duties and attend meetings," says Swanson. All 16 liaisons at Children's Hospital are nurses except for one physical therapist. They are paid for four hours of work each month.
The role of liaison has to be part of a staff person's current job, not more work added to an already overflowing workload, says Swanson. Therefore, it is important to create a job description that all managers agree with. Before a liaison program was implemented, Swanson surveyed managers to determine if they would support having a specific person responsible for identifying, obtaining, and organizing patient education resources in their patient care area. All agreed.
It is important to have the support of unit managers and directors, says Smith. If managers aren't supportive of the program, the liaison won't be able to complete tasks and assignments pertaining to the role. The director will simply say there is no time to devote to patient education materials and the liaison needs to be taking care of patients.
Remaining in compliance with standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations carries a lot of weight, says Smith. "Every year the Joint Commission seems to come out with more standards related to patient and family education. To keep us in compliance with those standards, it helps to have the liaison committee. The nursing unit director knows it's one less thing he or she has to worry about," explains Smith.
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