How to deliver phototherapy education to patients

The report on our study looking at the optimal delivery of phototherapy education to patients was published this week in the British Journal of Dermatology.
Summary:
This study aimed to improve the phototherapy safety knowledge of patients starting treatment.
We designed a self-directed tablet-based education session, which covered the key phototherapy safety and responsibility messages needed by patients undergoing phototherapy. The original design of the tablet session was initiated by Stella Choi-Lombardi and Annette Kennedy at Westmead and developed by Dr Charlotte Thomas under the supervision of Professor Fernandez Penas.
The study was carried out at Darlinghurst. We compared the knowledge of patients after their teaching session using a short questionnaire. 30 patients underwent the traditional nurse-led session and 30 patients underwent the new self-directed tablet session. Patients that underwent the tablet session scored more highly than those undergoing the traditional nurse led session. Moreover, the tablet-based session was shorter compared with the traditional session, resulting in greater staff utility. The tablet session was also considered acceptable by both nursing staff and patients and preferred to the traditional session by the nurses. Thanks also goes to the nurses at Darlinghurst who facilitated the data collection of this study.