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Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 1996;7(2): 222-228. |
| THE EFFECT OF SIMPLE DISCHARGE INSTRUCTIONS ON MINOR INJURED PATIENTS |
| Sung Wook Choi, Tae Sik Hwang, Sang Wean Jung, Seok Joon Jang, Hahn Shick Lee |
| Department of Emergency Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine |
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Published online: June 30, 1996. |
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| ABSTRACT |
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The many previous publications have shown the advantages of written discharge instruction over verbal discharge instruction on the basis of comparing the functional illiteracy among emergency department patients. Therefore, authors have conducted a study on the efficacy of written discharge instruction over the verbal discharge instruction of two groups: minor laceration and sprain patients. For the purpose of this study, minor laceration is defined as less than 3 cm laceration on the face or head, or less than 5 cm laceration on extremities. And simple sprains were limited to the extremities. A total of 416 patients who visited Yong Dong Severance Hospital Emergency Care Center were the
subject of this study during the period of 2 months from Feb. 1. to Mar. 31. 1996. The study was done
prospectively, and patients who entered this study were randomly selected. Simple discharge instructions were made prior to the study and patients were given or verbally told the one of two instruction sets by the emergency medicine resident. After reading or hearing the instructions, each patient was asked to answer four specific questions about them. Statistical significance was examined by t-test and p value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant. Mean age for verbal and written instructed group were 26.2 and 25.6 years old. There were 262 and 154 patients in verbal and
written instructed group, and the mean score was 2.24土1.20 and 3.42土0.52,respectively. The type of
injury was divided into laceration and sprain. Laceration group showed mean score of 2.15土1.23 , 3.32 土0.51,and sprain group of 2.34土1.16, 3.59土0.50) in verbal and written instruction group, respectively. For the patient younger than 13 years old, discharge instruction was given or described to a guardian. Age less than 13 years old group showed mean score of 2.75土1. 11 . 3.31土0.48 and more than 13 years old group of 2.10土1.19, 3.34士0.53 in verbal and written instruction group, respectively. The result showed statistical significance between verbal and written instruction group of type of injury and age difference. For the future, simplified written discharge instruction may help and improve the patient's understanding of the proper management of injury.
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| Key words:
Verbal and written discharge instruction |
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