The Efficacy of Discharge Instructions Provided by a Tablet Personal Computer for Aiding the Comprehension and Satisfaction of Patients with Ureteral Stones

Kim,  Hyung Kyu; Ahn,  Jung Hwan; You,  Ji Young; Ha,  Seung Min; Choi,  Jun Hyeok; Cho,  Gyu Chong; Sohn,  You Dong

J Korean Soc Emerg Med > Volume 23(5); 2012 > Article

Randomized Controlled Trial

Journal of The Korean Society of Emergency Medicine 2012;23(5): 712-720.

The Efficacy of Discharge Instructions Provided by a Tablet Personal Computer for Aiding the Comprehension and Satisfaction of Patients with Ureteral Stones

Hyung Kyu Kim, Jung Hwan Ahn, Ji Young You, Seung Min Ha, Jun Hyeok Choi, Gyu Chong Cho, You Dong Sohn

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Hallym University Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, Seoul, Korea. emdrcho@empal.com
²Department of Emergency Medicine, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, Korea.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE:
This study was conducted in order to evaluate the possibility of improving the comprehension and satisfaction of patients discharged after receiving discharge instructions using a tablet personal computer (tablet PC), compared with conventional discharge instructions.
METHODS:
A randomized, prospective, consecutive, exploratory study was conducted on patients with ureteral stones in an emergency department (ED). The patients' objective comprehension, satisfaction, and subjective comprehension regarding their discharge instructions were compared with regard to discharge instruction (traditional verbal method, N=53 versus tablet PC method, N=53).
RESULTS:
No statistically significant differences in age, gender, or level of education were observed between the two groups. The mean number of correct answers regarding ureteral stones on the questionnaire was 2.35+/-1.02 in the conventional group (CG) and 3.37+/-0.9 in the tablet PC group (TG) (p<0.05). The score for satisfaction was 7.75 in the CG and 8.03 in the TG (p>0.05). The subjective comprehension score was 7.42 in the CG and 7.8 in the TG (p>0.05).
CONCLUSION:
Objective comprehension of ureteral stones showed improvement in the group with discharge instructions provided by the tablet PC. However, satisfaction and subjective comprehension did not show improvement.

Key words: Handheld computer, Computer assisted instruction, Patient discharge, Urolithiasis