Nurse-led education for patients in plain language: Evaluation of a teaching concept for prospective nursing professionals

Background: Nurse-led education for patients is a core competency of nurses. A particular challenge is the education of the growing group of people with limited literacy skills. Aims: The aim of our project was to develop and evaluate a teaching concept that would gradually enable prospective nursing professionals to independently carry out nurse-led education for people with low literacy. Methods: First, a teaching concept for a nurse-led education for patients in plain language was developed, which was implemented with prospective nursing professionals of the Bachelor of Nursing programme at Charit & eacute; - Universit & auml;tsmedizin Berlin and tested with a pre-post evaluation. Self-developed items were used to measure experience, confidence, competence and learning increase. Results: Before starting the teaching concept, 56% (n = 14) of the participants already had some experience with patient education. The relevance of the topic was rated as very high (Median = 9; IQR = 10-8; n = 25). After completing the teaching concept, participants felt more confident in conducting nurse-led education (T0: 36% vs. T1: 79%) and more competent in using plain language (T0: 4% vs. T1: 26%). Conclusion: A teaching concept that combines the development of nurse-led education for patients with the target group-specific approach of plain language increases the confidence of carers in their teaching skills and the self-management of people with low literacy.