“If something is
important enough to mention at discharge, it really should be written down”
“A discharge form in ‘plain English’ should be standardized”
These are quotes from patients we interviewed. We have
repeatedly heard from patients that they want written instructions and studies
have shown that patients cannot remember what they are told in hospital and
when they have something to refer to (either in written or video format) once
they are home, they do much better.
We have been talking to a lot of patients and they have been telling us what information they would like to be given at discharge. The items listed here are grouped by the
number of patients and caregivers who mentioned them. The most popular items
were mentioned by at least 10 patients and caregivers and are highlighted in
green. The second group was mentioned by at least five patients and caregivers
and are highlighted in blue. The third group was mentioned by at least three
patients and caregivers and are highlighted in yellow.
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Medication Schedule
-
How to fill and refill medications
-
Follow up care schedule
-
What to expect the first week home
-
What is normal, what is a minor danger signal, and what is
a major danger signal
-
Who to call in the cases of a minor or major danger signal
-
Phone numbers for go-to people
-
Follow up appointments with phone numbers
-
Names of medications
-
Medication side effects
-
When to resume various activities
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Lists of relevant resources
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Pointers to additional information
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List of supports they can expect at home
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Why they are being prescribed each medication
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A number to call for prescription issues
-
Diagnosis and diagnoses considered
-
Short synopsis of hospital stay and tests done
From our research, we have also discovered
other tips that can help us when we design the PODS.
-
- Put the most important information first
- - Simplify the written instructions - use plain language for all content and headings, think about what each thing means to the patient.
- - Use large fonts
- - Include an illustration of the care/medication
schedule
- - Use other communication besides verbal –
text/illustrations
- - Include the patient’s voice in the follow up
plan and include caregivers as well
- - Include a checkmark space for patients to check
off what they have completed from their plan
-
Do you agree with this list? Would you add anything? Share
your thoughts with us!
This list looks great! Especially the points highlighted in green!
ReplyDeleteMaybe there could be more than one PODS. One with the information highlighted in green and another more text-based one with the rest of the points, as those seem to be more detail oriented.
I agree with your comments. These look great and there certainly is a lot of information to try to put into a single document, whatever the format. I'm looking forward to the design event on February 13 to see what all the different ways we can do this.
ReplyDelete