By Stacey Kusterbeck
Emergency clinicians often give detailed discharge instructions, only to learn prescriptions went unfilled and follow-up visits never happened. “We sometimes even set up appointments or give vouchers for antibiotics, and we still see a lack of compliance. A big percentage of patients never follow our instructions,” says Teresita Morales-Yurik, MD, FACEP, assistant ED medical director at OhioHealth Doctors Hospital in Columbus.
One reason is some patients forget the instructions or never comprehend them in the first place. In some cases, patients or family use a smartphone to record the discharge instructions. Morales-Yurik and colleagues surveyed emergency providers about this. “The discharge conversation is vital to patient care,” says Andy Little, DO, FACEP, the AdventHealth Orlando emergency medicine residency associate program director.
Morales-Yurik, Little, and colleagues surveyed 57 ED nurses, advanced practitioners, residents, and physicians at an Ohio hospital system about patients using audio or video recordings during visits.1
Sixty-three percent did not want any portion of their patient encounters (including discharge instructions) recorded. This was due to concerns related to potential legal liability or privacy violations. Thirty-five percent of respondents said patients had the right to record medical conversations.
Morales-Yurik suggests providers might need more information, such as specifics on who would record the discharge instructions, whether it would be recorded on the patient’s personal smartphone, and what safeguards could be required to ensure patient privacy. Combined with possible involvement of the hospital’s legal department, this might make providers more comfortable with the idea.
Morales-Yurik argues patients and providers stand to benefit from recorded discharge instructions. “We depend on patients following up with our instructions because that’s how we can safely send patients home and have a good outcome.”
REFERENCE
1. Meier N, Little A, Morales-Yurik T, Arehart B. Provider perspective on being recorded during emergency medicine discharge conversations. Cureus 2022;14:e24523.
Clinicians might need more information, such as specifics on who would record the discharge instructions, whether it would be recorded on the patient’s personal smartphone, and what safeguards could be required to ensure patient privacy. Combined with possible involvement of the hospital’s legal department, this might make providers more comfortable with the idea.
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