Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions
Patients who do not have enough information about their discharge plans have decreased treatment compliance, decreased patient safety, increased emergency department (ED) recidivism, and poor satisfaction. This project aimed to develop and implement a method to assess and improve patient understandi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2021-07-01
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| Series: | BMJ Open Quality |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/10/3/e001419.full |
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| author | Charisma DeSai Keri Janowiak Beatrice Secheli Eleanor Phelps Sam McDonald Gary Reed Andra Blomkalns |
| author_facet | Charisma DeSai Keri Janowiak Beatrice Secheli Eleanor Phelps Sam McDonald Gary Reed Andra Blomkalns |
| author_sort | Charisma DeSai |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Patients who do not have enough information about their discharge plans have decreased treatment compliance, decreased patient safety, increased emergency department (ED) recidivism, and poor satisfaction. This project aimed to develop and implement a method to assess and improve patient understanding of treatment and discharge plan in the ED. The authors developed a questionnaire to assess patient knowledge using Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Joint Commission recommendations, areas of communication deficits reported in other manuscripts, and ED staff and provider input. Responses from patient interviews were then scored against the medical record. Three trained scorers graded all responses, and inter-rater reliability was calculated using the kappa statistic.Baseline observations found that written discharge instructions were long and tedious, and important information was difficult to find. Based on initial patient scores, stakeholder interviews, and fishbone diagrams, the team developed a one-page simplified information page (SIP) targeted to inform patients their most relevant discharge instructions. Next, the SIP was tested on 118 patients to measure its effect on patient understanding. At the baseline study, no patients had complete understanding of their discharge instructions. The areas of lowest scores were medication instructions and indications to return to the ED. Implementation of the SIP resulted in statistically significant changes in score distribution across all questions assessed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Interrater reliability between scorers was high (kappa=0.84). We incorporated the concept of the SIP to the cover page of our standard discharge instructions.Healthcare providers often spend valuable time educating their patients, and it is important to assess the effectiveness of this teaching to identify areas in which we may improve health literacy and patient understanding. This project has shown that a simple, easy-to-read, concise page developed with patient input significantly improved ED discharge instruction knowledge. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-89719fea22c84c2fa768fc9fd32ebc21 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2399-6641 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2021-07-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open Quality |
| spelling | doaj-art-89719fea22c84c2fa768fc9fd32ebc212025-08-20T01:53:21ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open Quality2399-66412021-07-0110310.1136/bmjoq-2021-001419Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructionsCharisma DeSai0Keri Janowiak1Beatrice Secheli2Eleanor Phelps3Sam McDonald4Gary Reed5Andra Blomkalns6University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USAUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USAUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USAUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USAUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USAUniversity of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USAStanford University, Stanford, California, USAPatients who do not have enough information about their discharge plans have decreased treatment compliance, decreased patient safety, increased emergency department (ED) recidivism, and poor satisfaction. This project aimed to develop and implement a method to assess and improve patient understanding of treatment and discharge plan in the ED. The authors developed a questionnaire to assess patient knowledge using Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Joint Commission recommendations, areas of communication deficits reported in other manuscripts, and ED staff and provider input. Responses from patient interviews were then scored against the medical record. Three trained scorers graded all responses, and inter-rater reliability was calculated using the kappa statistic.Baseline observations found that written discharge instructions were long and tedious, and important information was difficult to find. Based on initial patient scores, stakeholder interviews, and fishbone diagrams, the team developed a one-page simplified information page (SIP) targeted to inform patients their most relevant discharge instructions. Next, the SIP was tested on 118 patients to measure its effect on patient understanding. At the baseline study, no patients had complete understanding of their discharge instructions. The areas of lowest scores were medication instructions and indications to return to the ED. Implementation of the SIP resulted in statistically significant changes in score distribution across all questions assessed with the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Interrater reliability between scorers was high (kappa=0.84). We incorporated the concept of the SIP to the cover page of our standard discharge instructions.Healthcare providers often spend valuable time educating their patients, and it is important to assess the effectiveness of this teaching to identify areas in which we may improve health literacy and patient understanding. This project has shown that a simple, easy-to-read, concise page developed with patient input significantly improved ED discharge instruction knowledge.https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/10/3/e001419.full |
| spellingShingle | Charisma DeSai Keri Janowiak Beatrice Secheli Eleanor Phelps Sam McDonald Gary Reed Andra Blomkalns Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions BMJ Open Quality |
| title | Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions |
| title_full | Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions |
| title_fullStr | Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions |
| title_full_unstemmed | Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions |
| title_short | Empowering patients: simplifying discharge instructions |
| title_sort | empowering patients simplifying discharge instructions |
| url | https://bmjopenquality.bmj.com/content/10/3/e001419.full |
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