Jennifer S. Albrecht|Ann L. Gruber?Baldini|Jon Mark Hirshon|Clayton H. Brown|Richard W. Goldberg|Joseph Rosenberg|Angela C. Comer|Jon P. Furuno
Hospital Discharge Instructions: Comprehension and Compliance Among Older Adults
University of Maryland, Baltimore|University of Maryland, Baltimore|University of Maryland, Baltimore|University of Maryland, Baltimore|VA Capitol Health Care Network|University of Maryland, Baltimore|University of Maryland, Baltimore|Oregon Health & Science University|Oregon State University
little known regarding prevalence risk factors noncomprehension noncompliance discharge instructions among older adultsto quantify prevalence noncomprehension noncompliance discharge instructions identify associated patient characteristicsprospective cohort studyfour hundred fifty adults aged 65 admitted medical surgical units tertiary care facility meeting inclusion criteriawe collected information demographics psychosocial factors discharge diagnoses medications using surveys patient medical records domains within discharge instructions included medications followup appointments diet exercise 5 days postdischarge assessed comprehension asking patients discharge instructions compared responses written instructions medical charts assessed compliance among patients understood instructionsprevalence noncomprehension 5 followup appointments 27 medications 48 exercise 50 diet recommendations age associated noncomprehension medication odds ratio 107 95 confidence interval ci 104 112 followup appointment 108 95 ci 100 117 instructions male sex associated noncomprehension diet instructions 191 95 ci 110 331 social isolation associated noncomprehension exercise instructions 942 95 ci 150 5911 depression associated noncompliance medication 229 95 ci 102 510 diet instructions 330 95 ci 124 883noncomprehension discharge instructions among older adults prevalent multifactorial varies domain