My Aunt Sue has been a nurse for about thirty years. While I was growing up my whole family would ask her opinion when we had a cough, cold, scrape, or unknown. Because of her profession we implicitly trusted her advice. I think many of us have the family-member, friend, or relative who is a nurse that we turn to for advice regarding our health because, quite simply, we trust nurses.
This is why reaching out to the nursing community is an integral part of radon education and outreach. Nurses are a very knowledgeable, approachable, and capable group of radon stakeholders that usually are more than willing to help share the message. As radon program officers, we simply need to know how to assist them in educating patients.
First, we need to keep in mind that nurses are extremely busy. We need to be able to offer them something that can be done quickly, such as give each patient a radon fact sheet and test kit. Let them know that they don’t have to be the expert, only a partner. If a patient has an in-depth question they can be referred to the state program.
Being able to bring something that will increase the level of care that a clinic or hospital provides to its patients is the best way to get a conversation started. Minnesota was fortunate enough to have a nurse design the education process to best fit into her own routine, which we have since been able to adapt to clinics and medical centers throughout the state. The key was that there was buy-in from the group that would be sharing the message. My only job was to make sure that it was as easy possible for them to increase the level of care they provide their patients.
I got a call last week from a nurse who works in a clinic in St. Paul who had been to a radon presentation I gave in August. She was interested in getting a few of our brochures and test kits for educating her patients about radon. Her idea was that she would keep a few in the clinic as demonstration kits and show patients how to test. I was more than willing to share the resources with her, but I also realize that simply giving her materials is just a start.
Next steps could involve getting brochures in the waiting room, providing test kits or coupons for test kits to patients, or getting a question about radon testing on the patient intake form. The most important thing that I can do, however, is to listen to what this nurse thinks would be the most effective approach. She knows her patients, she understands the culture of the clinic, and it is her insight that will make this outreach valuable. Scheduling quarterly follow-up calls to see how things are progressing is a simple way to support her as well as offer the chance to implement more radon programming.
In short, outreach to nurses is something that is effective, accomplishable, and a relatively small investment of resources. It should be a part of every state program, but must be done correctly to maximize the value to the program. Simply giving fact sheets to medical facilities is not enough. A small investment of time must be made to make sure that nurses understand how to get the message to patients and why educating patients improves the quality of care. If nurses will share the message about the importance of testing for radon people will listen because, quite simply, we trust nurses.
United States