Educating a patient. Really?

Are you sure that we have to "educate the patient"? 

We stuck so firmly to the idea of patient education that I feel we forgot what education is by nature. 

Education might be either inspired from inside of the person or forced from outside. And, we force kids to educate in school, but what about adults? Are you sure that your adult patient is willing to be "educated"? Really? :) 

Yes, correct. Adult people are willing to get answers to their particular questions rather than get a "formal and structured patient education". Moreover, these questions are different, and the perception of the information varies based on a person's background. 

That simple but powerful insight may easy explain you why your patients are "not listening", are "having unrealistic expectations" and so on. 

I believe that we shall not educate, we are not a school. In ophthalmic surgery, as well as in any healthcare, we have to listen first. And then, based on what we have learned - we have to deliver information addressed to the particular person's values and needs. Talking about patient education we simply eliminating a personality from the equation by "one size fits all" approach. 

That's why we often end up with unhappy patients. 

My experience shows that addressing the patient's values first, using a Smart Sight Framework, and knowledge about most typical questions of the patients (and surprisingly these questions are not about would it hurt or is it covered by insurance...) surgeons are significantly reducing unhappy patients rate and are increasing premium procedures. As this approach does not increase conversions, it gives you the right conversions, which surprisingly increases volume of premium procedures. 

Patients don’t need more education.

They need more recognition...

PS: if interested to read more about education and what is the difference between information and knowledge, have a look at my article. 

What do you think about patient education today? 

Oleksii Sologub

MSc, LLB, MBA

Premium IOL Clinical Integration

Patient Communication & Conversion Strategy

Board-Level Advisor in Ophthalmology