TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1995//
TI  - Discharge instructions: do illustrations help our patients understand them?
JO  - Annals of emergency medicine
A1  - Austin, P. E.
A1  - Matlack, R.
A1  - Dunn, K. A.
A1  - Kesler, C.
A1  - Brown, C. K.
SP  - 317
EP  - 320
VL  - 25
IS  - 3
N2  - STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the addition of illustrations to discharge instructions improves patient comprehension. DESIGN: Randomized, blinded, prospective study. A blinded investigator asked a series of questions designed to test the participant's comprehension of the discharge instructions. There were 10 possible correct responses. SETTING: Emergency department of a rural Level I trauma center. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 101 patients discharged with the diagnosis of laceration. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomly assigned to receive discharge instructions with (n = 54) or without (n = 47) illustrations. RESULTS: The median number of correct responses was five. Patients with illustrations were 1.5 times more likely to choose five or more correct responses than those without illustrations (65% versus 43%; P = .033). The effect of illustrations varied by demographic group. Among nonwhites (n = 51), patients with illustrations were more than twice as likely to choose five or more correct responses (P = .032). Among patients with no more than a high school education (n = 71), patients with illustrations were 1.8 times more likely to choose five or more correct responses (P = .038). Among women (n = 48), patients with illustrations were 1.7 times more likely to chose five or more correct responses (P = .006). CONCLUSION: The addition of illustrations to discharge instructions for patients who have sustained lacerations improves patient comprehension. There is a large effect among patients who are nonwhite, female, or have no more than a high school education.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0196-0644
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -