Chieng Michael, Southwell Thomas, Shand George, Humphries Aimee, Heap Naomi, Chapman Laura
Medical Education Training Unit, North Shore Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand.
Department of Medicine, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Intern Med J. 2021 Oct;51(10):1700-1706. doi: 10.1111/imj.15248.
Patients attending general medicine outpatient clinics (GM OPC) at hospital face multiple healthcare demands in an environment that has evolved with the clinician at its centre. The ideas, knowledge and understanding that patients bring to their clinic appointments are not well studied in the New Zealand setting.
To assess how hospitals prepare patients for their outpatient appointments and encourage people to participate actively in their own care.
A prospective survey of 50 patients attending follow-up GM OPC was performed. Participants' understanding of the purpose of their appointment and knowledge of their prescription medications was explored using a nine-item questionnaire. Patient-directed hospital communication was then analysed to assess the information supplied to patients.
Two-thirds (66%) of participants attending follow-up GM OPC recalled being informed of an appointment at the time of leaving hospital; only half (54%) felt they had been informed of the purpose of these appointments. Patient-directed communication was not completed in half (50%) of the analysed discharge letters. One-third (36%) of participants did not have specific questions for their clinic visits.
Limited information and support is provided to patients attending follow-up GM OPC and is not tailored to individuals' health literacy. This practice assumes patients have comparable health literacy to clinicians, which may have downstream impacts on the usefulness of the clinic experience. The information that health users bring to clinic may be improved by increasing pre-clinic user engagement and deploying patient-centred tools within the healthcare environment.
在以临床医生为核心的环境中，前往医院普通内科门诊（GM OPC）就诊的患者面临多种医疗需求。在新西兰的环境下，患者在门诊预约时所带来的想法、知识和理解尚未得到充分研究。
评估医院如何让患者为门诊预约做好准备，并鼓励人们积极参与自身护理。
对50名前往GM OPC进行随访的患者进行了一项前瞻性调查。使用一份包含九个项目的问卷，探究参与者对预约目的的理解以及对其处方药的了解情况。然后分析以患者为导向的医院沟通情况，以评估提供给患者的信息。
在前往GM OPC进行随访的参与者中，三分之二（66%）的人回忆起在出院时被告知有预约；只有一半（54%）的人觉得他们被告知这些预约的目的。在分析的出院信件中，有一半（50%）没有完成以患者为导向的沟通。三分之一（36%）的参与者在门诊就诊时没有具体问题。
对于前往GM OPC进行随访的患者，所提供的信息和支持有限，且未根据个人健康素养进行调整。这种做法假定患者的健康素养与临床医生相当，这可能会对门诊体验的有效性产生后续影响。通过增加门诊前患者的参与度以及在医疗环境中部署以患者为中心的工具，可以改善患者带到门诊的信息。
