Original ArticlePatients' Understanding of Their Treatment Plans and Diagnosis at Discharge
Section snippets
Patients and Methods
From July to October 1999, we surveyed 47 consecutive patients at discharge from the medical service of a public hospital in Brooklyn, NY, to determine whether they could state either the trade or the generic name(s) of their medication(s), the purpose of their medications, and the major side effect(s) associated with each medication. Patients were also asked to recall their diagnosis or diagnoses. Patients were permitted to supplement recall from memory with written notes that they may have
Results
Of the 47 patients surveyed at discharge, a total of 4 were excluded, 3 because of a language barrier (non-English speaking) and 1 because of being disoriented and judged incapable of properly answering our questions. Demographic characteristics of the study population are given in TABLE 1, TABLE 2, TABLE 3.
Of the 43 remaining patients, 12 (27.9%) were able to list all their discharge medications, 16 (37.2%) were able to recount the purpose of all their medications, 6 (14.0%) were able to
Discussion
Most of our patients (72.1%) were not able to list the names of all their medications. However, more patients could state the purpose of all their medications than could state the names. Commonly seen and expected side effects of medications were known by the least percentage of patients of all the other measures we analyzed. Those able to recount their diagnosis or diagnoses were the highest percentage of patients (41.9%).
We used a binary approach of patients recalling all their medications or
Conclusions
All methods that enhance the patient's understanding of his or her discharge treatment plan focus on one central aspect—proper communication. Although not all patients are noncompliant because of poor communication, this is probably the leading cause of noncompliance. Communication involves many aspects, including language (speaking to the patient in terms he or she can understand), practicality (giving the patient a regimen that he or she can follow without much disruption to daily life), and
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