Ginger Kanzer-Lewis - Patient Education: You Can Do It!: A Practical Guide to Teaching and Motivating Patients

T his book is dedicated to all the people who have made my life and career a joy. It is dedicated to all the patients I ever taught and who taught me, to all the diabetes educators who ever worked for me and taught me what diabetes education is really about, and to my dears Liz Kennett, Gloria Coshigano, Virginia Rago, and Mary Lemeseveski. Can you imagine being a diabetes educator in my department? I am so grateful that they are my dearest friends to this day.

The book was possible because I met Betty Brackenridge and she got me involved with the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) by telling me to put my money where my mouth is. She has been a mentor to me and so many others. The diabetes community is so lucky to have her.

I am full of gratitude and love for all the AADE presidents who dared me to go forward and pulled and pushed me up: Debbie Hinnen, Marilyn Graff, Jan Norman, Kathy Mulcahy, Chris Tobin, and for all the AADE staff who work so hard and put up with me. My sweet, dear Judy, what a year we had! I offer a prayer for all the presidents who will come after me and lead diabetes educators into the future, Kathy Berkowitz, Jane Kadahiro, Virginia Zamudio, Mary Austin, and those yet unnamed.

This book exists because of the love of my family, the real educators: my best friend and brother Mark and his wife Doctor Deena, my sister Sherry, and my children: Bill; Dawn, who did so much of the book for me; Kathy and Beth and their spouses; Jim; Ron; Jack; Donna; and especially my dear, own Glen who has been my joy always and his bride Helaina. It will be a remembrance for my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and it is in memory of my parents Abraham and Pat, my brother Freddy, my sister Beth and for Bea and Sandy, who chose to be my parents.

I know there are lots of you not mentioned, and I ask your forgiveness for not thanking you here.

This book and I exist because of the Captain of my ship, my darling husband Jack. Safe waters always and all my love.

I love you all. Take care.

Ginger

TEACHING: The earth doesnt move every time, but when it does, what a RUSH!

Cameron Beatty

I consider myself remarkably lucky to have found my calling in health education. I get such a thrill when someones face lights with insight. Or with determination. Or with pride and confidence. And thats still the case after 25 years of teaching in diabetes. That one field has remained new and challenging to me for one reason and it is this: The job of fostering learning is more about the people I serve than about the facts and processes I teach. The latter could get boring and stale if it were not for the utter diversity and challenge of the former.

The fact that you are reading this book suggests that you already share that thrill with me. Or perhaps you are looking for ways to bring it to your teaching. In either case, you are in for a treat.

One of the many gifts my calling has brought into my life is Ginger Kanzer-Lewis. Ginger, like me and most other teachers in the health field, is largely self-taught. We know our profession, be it nursing, dietetics, or some other bailiwick of medicine. And we have some body of knowledge to impart, be it diabetes, cardiac, asthma, or optimal health. But most of us became teachers either by edict or by choice, not by training. The result is one that Ginger and I have talked about many timesfrequent frustration over both the task and the outcome.

This book is Gingers offering to emerging and developing health facilitators. I know it is her hope that it will shorten the path from novice to technician to master, both for those entering the field and for those seeking further growth and skill.

Johnny: I taught my dog Spike to whistle.

Lucy: I dont hear him whistling!

Johnny: I said I taught him. I didnt say he learned!

And make no mistake. We need all the help we can get! One of the main challenges in my experience lies in making sure that our teaching actually fosters learning. Teaching, after all, is not the end in itself, but simply a means to an end. Teaching takes place in the teacher. Learning is happening in the learner. Sometimes the gap between the two is huge.

Like Johnny teaching Spike to whistle, health educators are often teaching from their own needs rather than helping the patient learn what is truly needed and helpful. In this book, you will find a wealth of practical advice to help you sort the wheat from the chaff as you decide what to teach and how. The ultimate answer is what the patient wants to learn. But there are techniques for engaging people and helping them find the meaning and importance of your message to them. Many of them are described in this book.