PATIENT UNDERSTANDING OF EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT DISCHARGE INSTRUCTIONS

Patients were interviewed immediately after discharge outside the emer gency department to determine whether they could read their discharge instructions and recall their diagnosis and treatment plan. The associ ation between frequency of correct responses and various characteristi cs of the patients was assessed. Of the patients completing the interv iew, 72% could read the discharge instructions. The illiteracy rate wa s higher for patients with less than 9 years of education and for pati ents aged 50 to 59 years. There was no association between patient rac e, sex, or literacy. The correct diagnosis was given by 79% of patient s, correct treatment information by 49%, and correct follow-up informa tion by 82%. Overall, 37% of patients answered all questions correctly and 8% answered all questions incorrectly, No association was found b etween frequency of correct responses and variables examined. Miscommu nication of discharge information occurs frequently; illiteracy does n ot completely account for the observed low rates of recall.