Therapeutic education is a model of treatment promoted by the World Health Organization, which allows patients with chronic diseases to increase awareness and develop the skills necessary to manage their disease. Therapeutic education also promotes a healthy lifestyle, improving both the quality of life and the psycho-physical wellness of the patient. Many healthcare providers, however, even though they are a part of the healthcare process, lack the skills needed to provide this type of education. For this reason, specific training must be provided.
Therapeutic education – a solution in treating chronic diseases
Approximately 80% of diseases treated outside a hospital setting are chronic. The quality of healthcare still greatly depends on the patient’s ability to manage his or her own disease on a daily basis, but many patients do not collaborate with the institutions and less than 50% correctly follow their treatment plans.
Therapeutic education is a solution for the treatment of chronic diseases that do not replace medical or surgical treatment but supports and facilitates the same, increasing adherence to therapy and allowing for the changes obtained to be consolidated over time.
Healthcare workers still need training programs to manage these diseases and the programs that are currently in use do not always include the educational or psychological support of the patient.
Structured and patient-oriented training
Healthcare provider training must be structured to provide new tools that enrich professional identities and that are targeted at improving reflective capabilities and relational and narrative skills, thereby making it possible to manage interventions by reconciling the best scientific evidence with personal preferences, grasping important elements from the accounts of patients and relatives.
An excellent example of this is the Domedica team, made up of professionals that ensure an effective approach in therapeutic education all throughout the patient journey. This approach improves the quality of life of the patients in the long-term, guaranteeing greater adherence to therapy and reducing both personal and social costs.
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