Improving Discharge Communication in the Emergency Department Through Information Structuring

University Hospital Basel

Status: Completed

Conditions: Information Structuring Skills; Empathy Skills

Treatments: Behavioral: Communication skills training "information structuring skills"; Behavioral: Communication skills training "empathy skills"

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02468869

BACOP2

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of the proposed study is to assess the potential of information structuring for improving discharge communication. Specifically, the investigators aim to examine the advantages of an information-structuring skills training for physicians (compared to an empathy skills training) on discharge communication and associated patient outcomes, such as patients' information recall and adherence to physician recommendations. The investigators hypothesize that patients receiving structured discharge information from their trained physicians will be able to recall more information and show higher adherence to recommendations relative to controls (i.e., patients receiving discharge information from doctors trained in empathy skills).

Enrollment: 196 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Outpatients with chest pain
• Outpatients with abdominal pain

Exclusion criteria

• Patients younger than 18 years of age (limited ability to provide informed consent)
• Patients with limited ability to communicate in German, the default language at the hospital (confounder related to language proficiency)
• Patients with dementia (confounder arising from pathological memory deficits)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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196 participants in 2 patient groups

Information structuring skills training

Experimental group

Description:

Physicians received a communication skills training focusing on information structuring with the so-called book metaphor for a structured discharge communication with the patient.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Communication skills training "information structuring skills"

Empathy skills training

Active Comparator group

Description:

Physicians received a communication skills training focusing on empathy skills with the acronym NURSE for an empathetic discharge communication with the patient.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Communication skills training "empathy skills"