Caregivers' Knowledge of Emergency Department Discharge Instructions Improves With the Use of Video

Previous studies demonstrate that patients often have difficulty understanding their discharge instructions. Video discharge instructions have the potential to mitigate factors such as illiteracy and limited physician time, which may affect comprehension. Our goal is to determine if adding video discharge instructions affects caregivers' understanding of their child's emergency department (ED) visit, plan and follow-up.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Evaluation of Video Discharge Instructions in Improving Understanding
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Standard written discharge instructions; Other: Video Discharge Instructions

Detailed Description

Caregivers of patients, age 29 days to 18 years, with a diagnosis of fever, vomiting or diarrhea, and wheezing or asthma were randomized into written or video discharge instruction groups. In the ED, caregivers read standard written discharge instructions or watched a 3-minute video based on their child's diagnosis. They were then asked questions regarding information covered in these instructions. After completing the 20-point questionnaire, standard discharge procedure was followed. Caregivers were contacted by phone 2-5 days after discharge for a follow-up questionnaire. Usefulness of the discharge instructions was also assessed.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 436
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Georgia
    • Augusta, Georgia, United States, 30912
      • Medical College of Georgia

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• caregivers of pediatric patients age 29 days to 18 years old diagnosed with wheezing or asthma exacerbation, fever, or vomiting and/or diarrhea.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Caregivers of patients who were critical in the ED,
• Admitted to the hospital, or given an alternate diagnosis prior to discharge were excluded from the study.
• Also, non-English speaking caregivers were excluded.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Written Discharge Instructions; Group of caregivers who read written discharge instructions that are the standard discharge instructions given in our pediatric ED	Other: Standard written discharge instructions; Group of caregivers who read the standard written discharge instructions prior to answering the questionnaire
Experimental: Video Discharge Instructions; Group of caregivers who watched the 3-minute video covering the information in the standard written discharge instructions	Other: Video Discharge Instructions; Group of caregivers who watched the 3 minute video covering the information in the standard written discharge instructions prior to answering the questionnaire

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Knowledge about the child's diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care.	After reading standard written discharge instructions or watching a 3 minute video covering the information in the written discharge instructions, a questionnaire was completed by each caregiver. Knowledge was assessed based on the number of correct responses given by each caregiver at the time of ED discharge and 2-5 days post-discharge.	up to 5 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Caregiver satisfaction with their discharge instructions	Caregivers either read standard written discharge instructions or watched a 3 minute video covering the information in the discharge instructions. Caregivers were then asked to rate their satisfaction with the discharge instructions using a 5-point Likert scale.	Satisfaction will be assessed at two time points within 5 days of being evaluated in the Emergency Department

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Augusta University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Scott A Bloch, MD, Augusta University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Bloch SA, Bloch AJ. Using video discharge instructions as an adjunct to standard written instructions improved caregivers' understanding of their child's emergency department visit, plan, and follow-up: a randomized controlled trial. Pediatr Emerg Care. 2013 Jun;29(6):699-704. doi: 10.1097/PEC.0b013e3182955480.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: April 1, 2010
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 1, 2010
• Study Completion (Actual): June 1, 2010

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 23, 2012
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 27, 2012
• First Posted (Estimate): June 28, 2012

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): June 28, 2012
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: June 27, 2012
• Last Verified: June 1, 2012

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Video; Discharge Instructions; Video Discharge Instructions; Emergency Department Discharge Instructions; ED Discharge
• Other Study ID Numbers: 10-03-173