BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to explore nurses’ attitudes to the barriers of patient education as a right
for getting information based on work situation of nurses, educational facilities in hospitals, and patients’ situation.
METHODS: The study was conducted using a cross-sectional design. The populations consisted of 240 nurses affiliated
in the Educational Hospitals. The data were gathered by a questionnaire. Demographic variables and three domains
were studied. Twenty questions were about their working situation, 4 questions about hospital educating facilities, and
12 questions were about patients’ situation in hospital. The type and frequency of education barriers were evaluated, and
variables associated with reporting an obstacle were analyzed.
RESULTS: In our questionnaire, we used a Likert scale for determining severity of three domains as the barriers of patient
education that ranged from 0 to 4. Generally, it was obvious that educational condition in our hospitals was not
good and most of the nurses believed that patient education is not their duties, facilities in hospitals are not sufficient
and shortness of time is the most important cause of insufficiency of patient education.
CONCLUSIONS: The interactions of patient, physician and systemic factors have implications for the implementation of
patient education. The failure of adequate patient education may be attributed to the lack of patient adherence, the failure
of nurses' knowledge and skill level or the insufficient funding and organization of necessary programs in the current
health care system. |