Well Written Learning Objectives Paper

How do health providers design educational programs to clearly articulate objectives to engage both patients as well as families?

A learning objective is a statement of what the learner will know, understand, or be able to do as a result of engaging in a learning activity. Well-written learning objectives are essential to building a strong foundation in the development of training materials. In order to develop effective learning objectives the nurse should fully assess the learning needs, abilities, preferences, and readiness to learn of all those expected to participate in the specific learning activity. This might include anybody that is an active participant in the patient 's life and anybody included in the patient 's health care plan such as patient, spouse, other family member and caregiver. The assessment considers cultural and religious practices, emotional barriers, desire and motivation to learn, physical and cognitive limitations, language barriers, and financial implications of

To develop objectives, you need to define the outcomes you and the patient expect from the teaching-learning process. Unlike goals, which are general and long-term, learning objectives are specific, attainable, measurable, and short-term. For example, for a newly diagnosed diabetic patient, the overall learning goal may be to learn how to maintain blood glucose levels between 70 and 150 mg/dl at all times. Reaching such a goal may be overwhelming unless it’s broken down into specific, short-term behavioral objectives that lead up to the overall goal. For this patient, an objective such as “After this session, the patient will be able to list five symptoms of hypoglycemic” is one step on the way to the larger goal.

A simple and practical way of developing learning objectives is to start with the words WHO, DOES, WHAT, HOW, and WHEN. For example, the objective “The patient will list five signs of hyperglycemia by time of discharge” could be broken down this way:

• WHO-the