Discharge Instructions: Do Illustrations Help Our Patients Understand Them?

Austin, Paul E; Matlack, Robert; Dunn, Kathleen; Kesler, Charles R.; Brown, Charles K.

doi:10.1016/s0196-0644(95)70286-5

Cited by 151 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Mayer et al, 1996;Morrison, Bryan and Chilcoat, 2002;Cheesman, 2006;Hosler and Boomer, 2011;Kobayashi, 2011;Ardasheva et al, 2015], healthcare [e.g. Austin et al, 1995;Houts et al, 2006] and libraries [Meier, 2012].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alter egos: an exploration of the perspectives and identities of science comic creators

Collver¹,

Weitkamp²

2018

JCOM

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While academic interest in science comics has been growing in recent years, the creators of these materials remain understudied. This research aimed to explore the experiences and views of science comic creators through the lens of science communication. Qualitative, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 14 science comic creators. Interviewees felt that the visual, narrative, permanent, and approachable qualities of comics made them particularly adept at explaining science and bringing it to new audiences. Science comic creators often had complex identities, occupying an ambiguous territory between `science' and `art', but were otherwise unconcerned with strict definitions. They emphasised the importance of balance between entertaining and informing, striving to create an engaging visual narrative without overcrowding it with facts or compromising scientific accuracy. This balancing act, and how they negotiate it, sheds light on what it means to be a science communicator operating in the space between entertainment and information/education.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alter egos: an exploration of the perspectives and identities of science comic creators

Collver¹,

Weitkamp²

2018

JCOM

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“…14 Similarly, Austin et al (1995) found that patients' comprehension of discharge instructions improved if illustrations were included and that the effect was greater among patients with lower educational levels. 15 However, even with these indications that illustrations improve patient comprehension, further study is still needed to determine what constitutes a good illustration for low-literacy patients.…”

Section: 13mentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Illustrations, whether line drawings, pictures (pictographs), or pictorial diagrams (pictograms), improve patient comprehension and reduce the likelihood of misadministration of medications among those with low literacy, older adults, and the visually impaired. 4,14,15 For example, Houts et al (2001) found that pictographs enhanced patients' recall of verbal medical instructions, improving recall from 14% for verbal instructions alone to 85% recall of medical instructions when accompanied by pictographs.…”

Section: 13mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of Pictographs Depicting Medication Use Instructions for Low-Literacy Medical Clinic Ambulatory Patients

Chuang

Lin²,

Wang³

et al. 2010

JMCP

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• 40 million Americans cannot read general consumer health information, and 90 million have difficulty understanding and acting upon this information.• Patients with poor literacy skills are often older adults, people with limited education, and those with limited native language proficiency.• Low-literacy patients are often embarrassed to ask health care professionals for help with understanding instructions, and without help they are likely to misunderstand written medication use instructions, contributing to medical errors and noncompliance.• Early work with pictographs found that patients recalled about 14% of verbal medical instructions, but correct recall improved to 85% when verbal instructions were enhanced with pictographs. What is already known about this subject Development of Pictographs Depicting Medication Use Instructions for Low-Literacy Medical Clinic Ambulatory PatientsMei-Hua Chuang, PharmD; Chin-Lon Lin, MD; Yuh-Feng Wang, MD, MS; and Thau-Ming Cham, PhD ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: One approach to help elderly and low-literacy patients understand instructions for medication use is to use pictographs or pictorial diagrams. However, most of these pictographs are designed by medical professionals and may not be optimal for such patients.

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“…Pictorial-enhanced written materials have been shown to improve comprehension, adherence, and dosing accuracy, 93,98,[107][108][109][110] particularly for patients with low literacy skills. [111][112][113][114] The use of illustrated schedules to assist patients with medication selfmanagement 108,115 can be especially beneficial for patients who take multiple medications. These picture-based scheduling tools seem to aid in the integration of dose and time information, 108 have been well accepted by patients, and are particularly beneficial for those with limited literacy or decreased cognitive function.…”

Section: Patient Safety and Medication Errorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Health Literacy and Quality: Focus on Chronic Illness Care and Patient Safety

Rothman

Yin²,

Mulvaney³

et al. 2009

Pediatrics

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Despite a heightened focus on improving quality, recent studies have suggested that children only receive half of the indicated preventive, acute, or chronic care. Two major areas in need of improvement are chronic illness care and prevention of medical errors. Recently, health literacy has been identified as an important and potentially ameliorable factor for improving quality of care. Studies of adults have documented that lower health literacy is independently associated with poorer understanding of prescriptions and other medical information and worse chronic disease knowledge, self-management behaviors, and clinical outcomes. There is also growing evidence to suggest that health literacy is important in pediatric safety and chronic illness care. Adult studies have suggested that addressing literacy can lead to improved patient knowledge, behaviors, and outcomes. Early studies in the field of pediatrics have shown similar promise. There are significant opportunities to evaluate and demonstrate the importance of health literacy in improving pediatric quality of care. Efforts to address health literacy should be made to apply the 6 Institute of Medicine aims for quality-care that is safe, effective, patient centered, timely, efficient, and equitable. Efforts should also be made to consider the distinct nature of pediatric care and address the "4 D's" unique to child health: the developmental change of children over time; dependency on parents or adults; differential epidemiology of child health; and the different demographic patterns of children and their families. The views presented in this article are those of the authors, not the organizations with which they are affiliated.www.pediatrics.org/cgi

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Discharge Instructions: Do Illustrations Help Our Patients Understand Them?

Cited by 151 publications

References 3 publications

Alter egos: an exploration of the perspectives and identities of science comic creators

Alter egos: an exploration of the perspectives and identities of science comic creators

Development of Pictographs Depicting Medication Use Instructions for Low-Literacy Medical Clinic Ambulatory Patients

Health Literacy and Quality: Focus on Chronic Illness Care and Patient Safety

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