Jolly B T, Scott J L, Sanford S M
Department of Emergency Medicine, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington DC., USA.
Ann Emerg Med. 1995 Oct;26(4):443-6. doi: 10.1016/s0196-0644(95)70112-5.
Emergency department patients have been shown to have difficulty understanding written discharge instructions. We attempted to determine whether improvements in comprehension can be achieved by simplification of available materials.
We have previously tested patient understanding of standard discharge instructions. For this study, we simplified the standard instructions. Patients were given one of two simplified instruction sets. After reading the instructions, each patient was asked to answer five specific written questions about them. Results were compared with those from the original study.
ED of a large inner-city university hospital.
Four hundred twenty-three adult ED patients who presented on randomly selected days.
The current and original groups were well matched for demographic variables. Each subject's responses were analyzed for overall success and for success with individual questions. The mean score for the current group was significantly improved over that of the original group. A trend toward improvement was demonstrated in all demographic groups with use of the simplified instructions.
Simplified written materials may help patients who do not understand current standard materials. Health care providers should simplify written materials to make them understandable to the greatest number of patients.
急诊科患者已被证明难以理解书面出院指导。我们试图确定通过简化现有材料是否能提高理解能力。
我们之前测试了患者对标准出院指导的理解。在本研究中，我们简化了标准指导。患者被给予两种简化指导集之一。阅读指导后，要求每位患者回答关于这些指导的五个特定书面问题。将结果与原始研究的结果进行比较。
一家大型市中心大学医院的急诊科。
在随机选择的日子就诊的423名成年急诊科患者。
当前组和原始组在人口统计学变量方面匹配良好。分析了每个受试者在总体成功率和单个问题成功率方面的回答。当前组的平均得分显著高于原始组。使用简化指导在所有人口统计学组中都显示出改善趋势。
简化的书面材料可能有助于那些不理解当前标准材料的患者。医疗保健提供者应简化书面材料，以使大多数患者能够理解。
