A Study to Identify the Learning Needs of Patients Undergoing Hemodialysis and Prepare and Evaluate the Effectiveness of Self Instructional Module for Home Management of Patients

It is observed that those patients who survive an attack of disease live for long time but their active powers are badly affected. It is necessary that the patients must be informed, made aware of their responsibilities which are possible as a result of education. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a global threat to health in general and for developing countries in particular, because therapy is expensive and life-long. In India 90% patients cannot afford the cost. Over 1 million people worldwide are alive on dialysis or with a functioning graft. Incidence of CKD has doubled in the last 15 years. So a study was carried out to identify the learning needs of patients undergoing hemodialysis and prepare and evaluate the effectiveness of self instructional module for home management of patients. Descriptive evaluatory approach was chosen for the research study. The study consiststed of 60 samples which were selected conveniently to suit the study, from dialysis unit of a selected hospital of the city. The structured questionnaire tool consisting three sections i.e. Demographic data of the cases, questionnaire to identify learning needs of patient undergoing hemodialysis and another questionnaire to assess the effectiveness of self instructional module for home management of patient undergoing hemodialysis was used. Major findings were 73% of the total cases had average knowledge and 8% of the total samples had good knowledge about hemodialysis. There was high significance between pre and post test knowledge gained in area of dialysis, fistula and care of fistula, diet, complications and coping mechanism i.e. P<0.0001. Post test knowledge score was more than pre test knowledge. It shows that the SIM was effective. There was no significant difference in pre test and post test knowledge gained according to age groups, sex, education, occupation, monthly income, diet and frequency of dialysis i.e. P>0.05. To conclude, with the above findings it is clear that there is learning need of the patients undergoing hemodialysis. Each patient has different learning needs. The present study shows that there is learning need of the patients undergoing hemodialysis regarding diet and prevention of complications and coping mechanism. Thus there is need to provide education to the patients undergoing hemodialysis to maintain optimum health. Self instructional module based on the learning needs was found to be effective in terms of knowledge gained by the patients undergoing hemodialysis. Hence, hypothesis was accepted that there will be significant difference in knowledge score of the patients before and after the provision of SIM.