Education for Health
Our mission is to improve the care of people living with long term conditions including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, through the provision of high quality evidence-based education for healthcare professionals
Atrial Fibrillation education and research
Undertaking high quality research enables us to highlight the importance of education. For example we recently investigated how often practice nurses palpate the pulse alongside using an electronic sphygmomanometer (ES). We found almost 75% of practice nurses were potentially missing opportunities to identify atrial fibrillation (AF) by palpating the pulse when they measure blood pressure using an ES. The finding has enabled us to link AF education to national service improvement initiatives.
The following case study showcases how our quality education can be a lever for service improvement.
PCT in the North of England enhanced the stroke services delivered by their practice nurses using Education for Health accredited stroke education to facilitate quality improvements to the local stroke care pathway. They linked local service development plans with a training needs analysis and identified that improving local knowledge and skills in atrial fibrillation and hypertension would improve patient care, experience and outcomes. By working closely in partnership with the PCT, Education for Health delivered a 6 month distance learning course in stroke which incorporated extra study days in AF and hypertension as well as those which are integral to delivery of the standard stroke module .
Priorities
- Identify the training of healthcare professionals and health service managers by looking at current clinical practice against up to date clinical evidence and identifying the gap between the theory and practice
- Develop educational interventions which enable disease prevention. For example:
- CVD Risk - helping the Department of Health and supporting their vascular checks programme
- Improving Health – this involves working more broadly with other local and national government agencies and not for profit organisations to promote the health and wellbeing of the population
- Ensure diseases are effectively managed across primary and secondary care, supporting nurses to work in partnership with patients with long term conditions in the following ways:
- • Delivering evidence-based practice
- • Following guidelines
- • Engaging with broader primary healthcare teams to improve services
Web: www.educationforhealth.org
Monica Fletcher, CEO
Email: m.fletcher@educationforhealth.org
Tel. 01926 836841