Visits to an emergency room are confusing and nerve-racking events that one emergency room doctor describes as “usually the worst day of a person’s life.” That makes for a poor setting for good communication. In a study published this month in the Annals of Emergency Medicine, researchers found that 78 percent of patients do not fully understand the care and discharge instructions they receive in the ER. Moreover, most people are unaware that they don’t understand what the doctor has said. The problem, said principal investigator Kirsten Engel of Northwestern University, is that doctors often deliver loads of complex information in a short amount of time. Engel said patients should take notes while in the ER, ask about anything they don’t understand, have a friend or relative present to help absorb information and read discharge instructions carefully.
Los Angeles Times
