A comparison of the importance of patient educational programs in the viewpoint of nurses and patients

Introduction: Patient education has many advantages such as increase in the clients' satisfaction, improvement of life quality, decrease in the side effects of the disease and treatment expenditure, and decrease in the patients' readmission. The main objective of this study was to compare the importance and performance of patient educational programs in the viewpoint of nurses and patients. Material and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, all the nurses employed in Fatemeh Zahra hospital of Najafabad (n=90) and 120 patients were selected through convenience sampling method and recruited to the study. Data were gathered using self-designed questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive and analytical statistics (Mann Whitney U). Results: The findings showed that there were significant differences between the viewpoint of the nurses and patients about the importance and performance of patient educational programs (P<0.005). The scores of the nurses on the importance of such services and the performance of patient education (38.64 vs. 27.91) were higher than those of the patients. (48.82 vs. 46.28). From the point of view of the nurses, patient education by highly motivated nurses and based on their educational needs were the most important measures which needs to be tackled. However, from point of view of the patients, patient education by highly knowledgeable nurses and appropriate communication skills during patient education were the most significant measures which should be taken into account. Conclusion: The mean score of the nurses about the importance and performance of patient education programs were higher than those of the patients. The results can contribute to the improvement in the quality of care for the patients.