title: Emergency department discharge instructions comprehension and compliance study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess patient comprehension of emergency department discharge instructions and to describe other predictors of patient compliance with discharge instructions.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients departing from the emergency department of an inner-city teaching hospital were invited to undergo a structured interview and reading test, and to participate in a follow-up telephone interview 2 weeks later. Two physicians, blinded to the other's data, scored patient comprehension of discharge information and compliance with discharge instructions. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using a kappa-weighted statistic, and correlations were assessed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and Fisher's exact test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 106 patients approached, 88 (83%) were enrolled. The inter-rater reliability of physician rating scores was high (kappa = 0.66). Approximately 60% of subjects demonstrated reading ability at or below a Grade 7 level. Comprehension was positively associated with reading ability (r = 0.29, p = 0.01) and English as first language (r = 0.27, p = 0.01). Reading ability was positively associated with years of education (r = 0.43, p < 0.0001) and first language (r = 0.24, p = 0.03), and inversely associated with age (r = -0.21, p = 0.05). Non-English first language and need for translator were associated with poorer comprehension of discharge instructions but not related to compliance. Compliance with discharge instructions was correlated with comprehension (r = 0.31, p = 0.01) but not associated with age, language, education, years in anglophone country, reading ability, format of discharge instructions, follow-up modality or association with a family physician.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Emergency department patients demonstrated poor reading skills. Comprehension was the only factor significantly related to compliance; therefore, future interventions to improve compliance with emergency department instructions will be most effective if they focus on improving comprehension.
authors.affiliation: University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Collin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Steven Marc
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arenovich
authors.forename: Jose
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monzon
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Culligan