‘Therapeutic Patient Education enables people with chronic diseases to manage their illness and yields benefits in both health and financial terms.’ (WHO definition).
Why is therapeutic patient education (TPE) useful?
TPE helps you to learn and reinforce your knowledge and skills concerning your disease and its treatment as part of your daily life.
You may have to face certain toxicities associated with your treatment, or with symptoms caused by disease. You may feel the need to talk to other patients on how you organise your day-to-day life, to your children, your work colleagyes and you may need to know how to talk about your disease with your firends and loved ones.
Patient therapeutic education offer you tools to help you cope.
The aim is to offer you maximum independence and maintained quality of life.
Your participation in the programme will enable you to take control of your cancer care experience and to develop a genuine partnership with your healthcare professionals.
How a patient therapeutic education programme works:
An initial encounter with a healthcare professional trained in PTE offers the opportunity to get to know each other and, together, to define your needs and expectations.
Then you can take part in individual and/or group workshops coordinated by trained professionals and based on experience sharing. You can come along with your natural caregivers if you like.
A variety of subjects are covered: knowledge of disease, adverse effects of treatment, diet, physical activity, fatigue, pain, etc. Media in support of PTE is attractive and enable you to learn or reinforce what you already know.
The programme is concluded with an overview of what you have acquired compared to your initial aims. Throughout your care path, you can join a whole range of different themed workshops.
How to take part
All of the healthcare professionals at the Centre François Baclesse can help you join a PTE programme. Your GP can also provide you with a prescription. And you can simply ask yourself.
You can follow your PTE programme at the Centre François Baclesse. PTE sessions are organised on the 4th floor, in the ATOSS Supportive Care department. You can make an appointment with the ATOSS consultation secretaries.
The programme can also be followed with external healthcare professionals (within the framewwork of the regional PTE platform ‘Planeth Patient’.