Lumbar puncture patient video increases knowledge and reduces uncertainty: An RCT.

BACKGROUND

Patients often perceive a lumbar puncture (LP) as an invasive procedure. We aimed to evaluate the impact of a 3-minute educational animation-video explaining the LP procedure, on patients' knowledge, uncertainty, anxiety, and post-LP complications.

METHODS

We included 203 newly referred memory clinic patients, who were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: (1) home viewing of the video, (2) clinic viewing of the video, or (3) control condition (care as usual). Participants completed questionnaires measuring knowledge as information recall, uncertainty, anxiety, and post-LP complications, the latter when patients underwent an LP procedure (n = 145).

RESULTS

Viewing the video increased information recall for both home (< .001), and clinic viewers (< .001) compared to controls. Levels of uncertainty decreased after viewing (.044), particularly for clinic viewers. Viewing the video or not did not affect anxiety and post-LP complications.

DISCUSSION

Preparing individuals for an LP by means of an educational video can help to increase knowledge about the procedure and reduce feelings of uncertainty.