The coronary heart disease has had an increasing trend among women, thus, prompting healthcare providers to initiate training aimed at educating the patients on preventative care. This training program aims at imparting the right knowledge regarding the disease to patients and especially women. The information shall be passed to patients by the nurses using healthcare posters. The selection of nurses for the administration of the training is informed by the view that nurses are in close contact with the patients, and thus, they understand the patients’ needs better (Discovery Education, 2016). The lessons should achieve the following objectives:
- Raise awareness among women that CHD is one of the killer diseases
- Encourage women to share their health information with the healthcare providers
- Have a clear understanding of the concept of primary prevention
- Understand the causes and risk factors for CHD
- Understand the preventative strategies such as healthy feeding
The learners
The primary audiences for this training program are women aged between 40 and 60 years residing in the United States. The training specifically targets the mentioned group owing to the view that this class of women is less aware of the risk factors associated with the illness. There is a growing perception among women that CHD is common in men, and thus, it rarely affects women (Huxley, Barzi, & Woodward, 2006). In that regard, women ignore the preventative measures, thus, placing them at a higher risk of contracting the disease. Apart from the women in the identified age (40-60 years), this training targets a secondary audience made up of women of all ages. The inclusion of this wide audience is informed by the view that CHD affects women of all ages including teenagers. In that regard, it is imperative to train teenagers on the preventative measures, which prepares them for any occurrences in old age. Lastly, the lessons shall also target another secondary group, viz. nurses and physicians. For nurses and physicians, the lessons shall seek to create awareness of the increasing risk of the disease among women and their role in averting it.
The educational setting
As noted earlier in this paper, these lessons aim at creating awareness about CHD among women and the healthcare providers. Therefore, the lessons shall take the form of patient education as well as that of staff development. On one hand, the staff development setting shall focus on training nurses on the facts about the disease, its causes, and prevalence. Vardeman-Winter and Tindall (2010) argue that one of the challenges of alleviating the disease is the lack of ample knowledge among the healthcare providers on the same. Therefore, the healthcare practitioners need to be trained on the prevalence rates and preventative strategies. Besides, the medical experts need to be encouraged to embark on preventative care as opposed to the curative care. The cost of health is increasing tremendously, thus, causing healthcare budget deficiencies. It is important to note that nurses are charged with the responsibility of formulating the budget. In the accomplishment of the stated task, they have to ensure that they bring the cost of health down to ensure affordable care. Chronic diseases are a major source of budget deficits due to the increased costs associated with such illnesses. Given that CHD is one of the chronic diseases that contribute to the high cost of healthcare, nurses need to be trained on preventative care to avoid incurring huge costs in the treatment of emergency cases. In addition to training the healthcare providers, these lessons shall also center on educating the patients on preventative care. Today, patients are empowered by the Internet and technology at large to take care of their health without having to visit the healthcare establishments (Halton et al., 2006). Therefore, the patients shall be educated on preventative strategies to promote self-care.
Learner assessments
The primary audience of this training program is women of ages between 40-60 years. This population is usually keen on their health owing to their susceptibility to chronic illnesses. Therefore, the selected population is presumed to be comprised of active learners who are willing to gather information regarding their health. In the US, most women are educated, and they are English speaking (Vardeman-Winter & Tindall, 2010). Given that the lessons shall be administered in the English language, this population will be in a position to grasp the concepts of the learning program with ease. The high level of education by the target group will facilitate reading healthcare magazines, which are the main mediums used for the training. The secondary audience for the program is the teenagers. The level of education for the mentioned group is high, and most of the teens are well versed with both written and spoken English. Additionally, teenagers are conversant with technology and the Internet. This aspect will facilitate the administration of the training through the Internet and social networks. However, inasmuch as the teenagers are educated and conversant with the written and spoken English language, they are less likely to have the desire to learn about health since they perceive themselves as being less susceptible to the chronic illnesses. On the other hand, nurses are well educated and willing to learn. The majority of the nurses are keen to provide quality patient-centered services to their patients, hence, the willingness to acquire additional healthcare knowledge.
Purpose and rationale for selecting the topic/disease
The cases revolving around CHD have increased tremendously over the past few decades, and it is one of the leading causes of deaths among women. Women have little or no knowledge regarding this deadly disease, which places them at a high risk of contracting it. My decision to explore the topic in my lesson plan was informed by the view that most women do not recognize CHD as one of the leading killer diseases. I gained this information as I went through a newspaper article about women health. The article explored major facts about CHD and the statistics on the number of women who succumb to the deadly disease. Today, most women perceive breast and cervical cancers as the leading killer diseases. In most women magazines, the mentioned forms of cancer are explored in details and most women are thus aware of their causes and preventative care. However, such magazines overlook CHD, which is equally deadly. Research indicates that CHD kills more women than breast cancer and cervical cancer (Long, Taubenheim, Wayman, Temple, & Ruoff, 2008). However, most women are unaware of this understanding, and thus, they tend to ignore information on the disease. Raising awareness about the disease would go a long way in averting women deaths from the illness. Another factor that prompted my desire to raise awareness of the disease is my placement on the cardiac ward. During the stated placement, I saw the debilitating effects that the disease had on a female patient. From this experience, I realized that women need to be trained about the disease, its causes, and the preventative measures to contain it before it causes further deaths and suffering.
The philosophical or theoretical basis for teaching approaches used in the lesson
This lesson will use posters to educate women about the disease under consideration. The educational approach model of health promotion will specifically be of great importance when selecting the right design for the posters. The objective of the model is to raise awareness about health issues affecting different groups of people in the society. In this case, the objective will be to raise awareness about CHD among women of all ages. The educational posters shall be placed in women magazines and healthcare facilities. Whang et al. (2009) argue that the aging women are more interested in reading health magazines than other texts. Therefore, placing the ads in women health magazines shall promote awareness of the disease among women of all ages. The social media will also be important in raising awareness of the disease. In the recent past, the number of social media users has grown exponentially whereby most teens are utilizing the social media and the Internet as their exclusive communication channel. Halton et al. (2006) argue that today patients are using the Internet and the social media to gather knowledge regarding their health, which promotes self-care. Given that the objective of this lesson is to raise awareness among women of all ages including teenagers, the social networks shall be of great importance in promoting that objective.
References
Discovery Education: Here’s to your healthy heart. (2016). Web.
Halton, L., Willett, C., Liu, S., Manson, E., Albert, M., Rexrode, K., & Hu, F (2006). Low-carbohydrate-diet score and the risk of coronary heart disease in women. New England Journal of Medicine, 355(19), 1991-2002.
Huxley, R., Barzi, F., & Woodward, M. (2006). Excess risk of fatal coronary heart disease associated with diabetes in men and women: meta-analysis of 37 prospective cohort studies. British Medical Journal, 332(7533), 73-78.
Long, T., Taubenheim, M., Wayman, J., Temple, S., & Ruoff, A. (2008). The Heart Truth: Using the power of branding and social marketing to increase awareness of heart disease in women. Social marketing quarterly, 14(3), 3-29.
Vardeman-Winter, J., & Tindall, N. (2010). If it’s a woman’s issue, I pay attention to it”: Gendered and intersectional complications in The Heart Truth media campaign. PRism, 7(4), 1-15.
Whang, W., Kubzansky, D., Kawachi, I., Rexrode, M., Kroenke, H., Glynn, J.,…Albert, M. (2009). Depression and risk of sudden cardiac death and coronary heart disease in women: results from the Nurses’ Health Study. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 53(11), 950-958.
