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The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
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[The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
A trip to the emergency room is usually traumatic. It has to be. Why else would you be going? But new research shows that it also tends to be confusing. Scientists from the University of Michigan conducted detailed interviews with about 150 patients as they were released from the ER. And they compared the patients’ impressions of what had happened with their hospital records. What they found is that three quarters of the patients they spoke with didn’t understand what was wrong with them, what was done for them, or what they should do when they get home. What’s worse, these same patients reported being pretty sure of what they understood, or thought they understood, 80 percent of the time. The results appear online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine.
The biggest area of confusion revolved around what to do next: what medicines patients might need to take, whether they should make an appointment to see their regular doc, or what symptoms would indicate they need to get themselves back to the ER. Obviously, doctors need to do a better job of explaining things. But patients, too, should question the staff until they get clear instructions. Take along a family member for an extra set of ears. Even ask the doctor to write things down. Of course, good luck trying to read it later.
—Karen Hopkin
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Add CommentWhen considered in the light of cost driven trends: reduction in nursing staff, increased use of LPNs vs. RNs, chronic and increasing E.D. overcrowding and the inreasing use of the E.D. in lieu of primary care providers due to lack of health insurance, this is less surprising and can be expected to worsen. This sets up a probability of E.D. returns that should not be necessary and further load the system. Further, some of the consequences could be debilitating or life threatening. Patients who fail to follow-up appropriately are often at even greater risk due to incorrect or incorrectly entered contact information. This reduces the medical staff's ability to contact those patients who do not follow up as well as those who might present with delayed and significant test results
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI appreciate that. I recently was brought in with a couple of conditions which turned out not to be what concerned the staff. I spent a week in there, was a dozen different doctors with different specialties, and when I got out I had to go back to the GP and say, "What was that all about?" I found the answer somewhat surprising, perhaps they did too. I ended up leaving with a breathing device nobody seemed to know how to use, at least one of someone else's lab orders, and had to argue with a pharmacist about drug interactions before he released the drugs I had just been told to take.
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