Stephanie Mueller|Kyla Giannelli|Robert Boxer|Jeffrey L. Schnipper
Readability of patient discharge instructions with and without the use of electronically available disease-specific templates
Brigham and Women's Hospital|Brigham and Women's Hospital|Brigham and Women's Hospital|Brigham and Women's Hospital
abstract objective low health literacy common leading patient vulnerability hospital discharge patients rely written health instructions aimed examine impact use electronic patientfriendly templated discharge instructions readability discharge instructions provided patients discharge materials methods performed retrospective cohort study 233 patients discharged large tertiary care hospital homes following implementation webbased discharge module included optional use diagnosisspecific templated discharge instructions compared readability discharge instructions measured flesch reading ease level test frel 0100 scale higher scores indicating greater readability fleschkincaid grade level test fkgl measured grade levels discharges used templated instructions without modification versus discharges used cliniciangenerated instructions without available templated instructions specific discharge diagnosis results templated discharge instructions provided patients 45 discharges 55 patients received cliniciangenerated discharge instructions majority 781 available templated instruction specific discharge diagnosis templated discharge instructions higher frel scores 71 vs 57 p amplt 001 lower fkgl scores 56 vs 76 p amplt 001 compared cliniciangenerated discharge instructions discussion use electronically available templated discharge instructions associated better readability higher frel score lower fkgl score use cliniciangenerated discharge instructions main reason clinicians create discharge instructions lack available templates patients specific discharge diagnosis conclusions use electronically available templated discharge instructions may viable option improve readability written material provided patients discharge although library available templates requires expansion