Educating patients with uncomplicated UTIs: the effect of an educational brochure on patient knowledge

We evaluated the effectiveness of an educational brochure designed to increase patient knowledge about uncomplicated urinary tract infections (uUTIs). Participants were adult female outpatients (average age, 45 years) with a clinical diagnosis of uUTI. The 1,972 study sites (primary care physicians' offices and urology clinics) were randomized to receive patient enrollment kits with or without educational brochures. Pre- and post-treatment uUTI knowledge was assessed by questionnaire in 6,922 women who either received an educational brochure (n=3,431) or did not (n=3,491). Among those who received a brochure, the mean uUTI knowledge score increased by 0.59 from pre- to post-test. In contrast, the mean score of those who did not receive a brochure increased by only 0.23. The brochure group had a 0.37 improvement in mean scores compared with the non-brochure group, a statistically significant difference (P less than 0.0001). Affected patients who received the brochure showed greater improvement in a test on UTI-related knowledge compared with patients who did not.