Key result
Physician-led teach-back communication linked to ~22% better patient understanding of admitting diagnoses.
Why the study?
Safe transitions of care post-inpatient hospitalization require robust communication practices to ensure patient understanding of hospitalization and post-discharge needs.
Does physician-led verbal communication combined with a written summary and the teach-back method improve patient understanding of hospitalization and post-discharge needs?
Observational (n=120)
No
Does physician-led verbal communication combined with a written summary and the teach-back method improve patient understanding of hospitalization and post-discharge needs?
Physician-led verbal communication combined with a written summary and the teach-back method significantly improves patient understanding of their hospitalization and post-discharge needs compared to standard written instructions alone.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Hypothesis-generating for teach-back in discharge education; prospective trials needed before clinical adoption.
BACKGROUND: Safe transitions of care post inpatient hospitalization require robust communication practices during the discharge process to ensure patient understanding. OBJECTIVE: To determine if physician-led patient communication, inclusive of written and verbal instructions with the teach-back method, improves patient understanding of hospitalization and post-discharge needs. DESIGN: This pre-post study was piloted at an urban, 600-bed, academic tertiary care hospital over a 3-month period. PARTICIPANTS: Study participants included adult patients admitted to the hospitalist medical teaching service (MTS). INTERVENTION: Study participants received both a written summary and verbal instruction reinforced with teach-back method. The instruction included the four core domains of patient education: reason for admission, inpatient management, medication changes, and follow-up plan. MAIN MEASURES: Changes in mean patient understandings scores from pre- to post-intervention were evaluated on a 3-point scale (no, partial, or full understanding) in addition to basic demographics, level of schooling, and primary language spoken to better ascertain the drivers of improved health literacy. KEY RESULTS: Among 120 study participants, mean survey scores in all four testing domains showed improvement in patient understanding of "admitting diagnosis" (21.5%, 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.40; P < 0.0001), "treatment undergone" (35.1%, 95% CI, 0.34 to 0.58; P < 0.0001), "medication changes" (45.8%, 95% CI, 0.40 to 0.67; P < 0.0001), and "discharge follow-up" (38.1%, 95% CI, 0.39 to 0.63; P < 0.0001). Mean scores improved more in patients with lower levels of schooling in all testing domains, except for "understanding of medication changes," showing more improvement in patients with high education achievement (95% CI, 0.08 to 1.09; P = 0.027). CONCLUSIONS: While standard discharge practice involves only a printed discharge packet, the use of a written summary of instructions and verbal reinforcement using teach-back methods improves patient understanding and health literacy of post-discharge needs during transitions of care.
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Parikh et al. (2025) conducted an observational in Hospitalized adult patients (n=120). Physician-led verbal communication and written instructions with teach-back method vs. Pre-intervention baseline (standard discharge practice) was evaluated on Patient understanding of admitting diagnosis (mean score on a 3-point scale) (Mean difference 0.31, 95% CI 0.21-0.40, p=<0.0001). Physician-led verbal communication and written instructions using the teach-back method improved patient understanding of admitting diagnosis by 21.5%, treatment by 35.1%, medication changes by 45.8%, and follow-up by 38.1%.
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