Question: Designing a Teaching Plan

You have been working in a home health agency for 3 years. During that time, the acuity of your caseload has increased dramatically, and you find that teaching home health aides has become more difficult, as the equipment they need to use has become more complex. The home health aides seem motivated to learn, but you believe that part of the difficulty lies with how you are presenting the material. Many of them have a limited knowledge of nursing procedures. One of your clients is Mr. Jones, who has no family. His insurance company has approved a visit from a home health aide every other day to bathe him and help him ambulate with a walker. Because of his chronic severe respiratory disease, he must be ambulated with oxygen but does not need it when resting. Today, you have scheduled a session with Mr. Jones' home health aide for a demonstration and return demonstration on how to connect and disconnect the oxygen and how to use the walker. The aide is very competent in basic hygiene skills but has not always used good body mechanics when providing patient care, and she seems intimidated by new equipment.

ASSIGNMENT: Using your knowledge of the learning theories presented in this chapter, construct a teaching plan for this aide. Support your plan with appropriate rationale.