title: Improving patient recall of information: Harnessing the power of structure.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Assess the amount of medical information laypeople recall, investigate the impact of structured presentation on recall.
  
  
  METHODS
  105 first-year psychology students (mean age 21.5±3.8 years; 85% female) were randomised to two information-presentation conditions: structured (S group) and nonstructured (NS group). Students watched a video of a physician discharging a patient from the emergency department. In the S Group, content (28 items of information) was divided into explicit "chapters" with "chapter headings" preceding new information. Afterwards, participants wrote down all information they recalled on an empty sheet of paper.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The S group (N=57) recalled significantly more items than NS group (N=41) (8.12±4.31 vs. 5.71±3.73; p=0.005), rated information as easier to understand (8.0±1.9 vs. 6.1±2.2; p<0.001) and better structured (8.5±1.5 vs. 5.5±2.7; p<0.001); they rather recommended the physician to friends (7.1±2.7 vs. 5.8±2.6; p<0.01).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  University students recalled around 7/28 items of information presented. Explicit structure improved recall.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Practitioners must reduce the amount of information conveyed and structure information to improve recall.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: wolf.langewitz@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Wolf
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Langewitz
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: selina.ackermann@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Selina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ackermann
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: anette.heierle@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Anette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Heierle
authors.affiliation: Center for Adaptive Rationality, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: sekhertwig@mpib-berlin.mpg.de.
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hertwig
authors.affiliation: Medical University Graz, Graz, Austria. Electronic address: leyla.ghanim@medunigraz.at.
authors.forename: Leyla
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ghanim
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: roland.bingisser@usb.ch.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bingisser
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003142:Communication; D032882:Comprehension; D003376:Counseling; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians; D012153:Retention, Psychology
keywords: Book metaphor; Improving recall; Information recall; Patient information; Structuring information