Benefits of using teach-back in the healthcare setting

  • Teach-back provides deeper insight into the difficulties someone may experience in understanding information, and in applying that information to their own circumstances.
  • Teach-back also provides real feedback to healthcare workers about the way they communicate, and about the assumptions they make.
  • Teach-back allows open discussions with people, enabling health practitioners to tailor information to the individual needs and abilities of their clients.
  • Teach-back enables people to be more engaged in self-managing their health. Case studies have demonstrated that people are better able to:
    1. understand information about managing their health
    2. apply this information in their daily lives.
  • Teach-back may lead to a stronger relationship between healthcare practitioners and their clients because it promotes a conversation, which in turn can lead to building rapport and a level of comfort and trust. It is important that what we say is clear and concise and that we base our interactions on trust, understanding, empathy and cooperation.

Tip!

Using teach-back doesn’t mean you have to deliver more information – you will often end up giving less information. Teach-back is about how you deliver that information. Once you are familiar with using teach-back, it will not take you any more time than it does now to teach people because you will become more efficient about what and how you are teaching.

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Testimonials about teach-back.

(What the Ophelia Victoria project found)

Allowed health workers to focus on  what the client needs to know

Alerted health workers to the importance of tailoring information to the client’s strengths

Knowing they would be asked to ‘teach-back’ increased clients’ engagement

Using teach-back built rapport between client and healthcare worker