Hasan Sheikh|Aleksandar Brezar|Agata Dzwonek|Lawrence Yau|Lisa Calder
Patient understanding of discharge instructions in the emergency department: do different patients need different approaches?
University Health Network|University of Ottawa|University of Ottawa|University of Ottawa|Ottawa Hospital
previous studies demonstrated patients poor understanding discharge instructions provided emergency department ed aims study determine patient factors income level education correlate patient understanding discharge instructions explore different patient populations prefer different resources receiving discharge instructionswe conducted live observations physicians providing discharge instructions ed 100 patients followed patient survey determine understanding four domains diagnosis treatment plan followup instructions return ed rted instructions collect patient demographics enrolled patients age 18 discharged home excluded nonenglish frenchspeaking patients significant psychiatric history cognitive impairment performed twoway anova analysis patient factors patient understandingwe found patients poor understanding discharge instructions ranging 240 poor understanding followup plan 640 rted instructions almost half 42 patients receive complete discharge instructions lower income correlated significant decrease patient understanding discharge diagnosis p 001 rted instructions p 004 patients complete high school trended towards lower levels understanding diagnosis treatment plan p 006 lower income patients preference receiving followup phone call nurse higher income patients preferred online resourceslower income patients completed high school higher risk poor understanding discharge instructions new technological solutions emerge aid patient understanding discharge instructions study suggests may aid highest risk failing understand instructions