Patient Education and Health Promotion
Domain 7: Patient Education and Health Promotion
This domain tests whether you can translate a plan into behavior the patient can actually follow and document understanding.
Core rules
- Use plain language, limit to three key points, and confirm with teach-back: ask the patient to explain or demonstrate the plan in their own words.
- Health literacy, vision, hearing, language, and cultural beliefs shape the teaching plan. Provide interpreter services and written materials at an appropriate reading level.
- Smoking cessation improves bone healing, fusion rates, and wound healing. Offer pharmacotherapy and referral.
- Bone health: adequate calcium and vitamin D, weight-bearing exercise, fall prevention, and DXA screening for at-risk adults.
- Cast and splint care: keep dry, do not insert objects, elevate, and report increased pain, numbness, or discoloration.
- Medication education includes purpose, dose, timing, side effects, and what to do about missed doses.
Worked example
A 70-year-old with a distal radius fracture in a cast says, "I understand." Use teach-back: "Tell me what you will do if your fingers turn blue or you cannot move them." The patient identifies elevation and calling immediately, which documents understanding better than a yes.
Traps
Relying on a signed handout; using jargon such as "non-weight-bearing"; and failing to address transportation, home safety, or caregiver support before discharge.