QUALITATIVE EVALUATION OF COURSES INTENDED FOR PATIENTS SUFFERING FROM CHRONIC DISEASES - NEW OBSERVATION METHOD FOR THE CONTINUOUS TRAINING OF THE HEALTH-CARE TEAM

Experience has shown that when teaching patients, healthcare providers concentrate more on information concerning the illness rather than on the handling of treatment. Therapeutic education of patients imposes a precise structure on the pedagogic method and teaching aids. It is e ssential that, during their clinical practice, care-providers develop teaching methods which encourage a maximum of interaction to help pati ents learn to manage their own treatment. In this perspective, the aut hors propose 'analytical observation' as a method of training evaluati on for healthcare providers. Three observation charts, as well as an a nalytical method for evaluation, have been devised. They have been tri ed and validated during a study whose principal objective was to measu re quantitatively the impact of supervision of care-providers in the d omain of therapeutic education of patients. The authors conclude that this method has a definite impact on the pedagogic progress of the car e-providers. It makes it possible to record and to give a structure to the pedagogic follow-up (inspection, examination, testing) of care-pr oviders. Since patient education plays a key role in therapeutic succe ss, this type of methodology for training and evaluation conforms to t he rigorousness essential to any therapeutic undertaking. (C) 1998 Els evier Science Ireland Ltd.