Improving Nursing Knowledge and Patient Education About Aprepitant's Effects on Hormonal Contraception: A Performance...

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Patient Education
• Quality Improvement

Background:

• Hormonal contraceptives require careful management during perioperative care.
• Aprepitant use necessitates awareness of potential drug interactions impacting contraceptive efficacy.
• Inconsistent discharge instructions can lead to suboptimal patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the consistency of verbal and written discharge instructions for women of childbearing age receiving aprepitant.
• To ensure patients understand the need for a secondary form of birth control for 28 days.
• To improve Registered Nurses' knowledge and confidence in providing aprepitant-related discharge education.

Main Methods:

• A pre-/post-quality improvement design was employed.
• 30 women of childbearing age and 73 PACU nurses participated.
• Nurses received in-service education; discharge instructions were standardized and evaluated.

Main Results:

• Nurse knowledge of aprepitant increased significantly from 61.39% to 81.95%.
• Patient recall of the need for secondary birth control increased by 33.3%.
• Nurse knowledge remained significantly elevated at 90-day follow-up.

Conclusions:

• Standardized aprepitant education improves nurses' ability to convey critical information.
• Enhanced nursing knowledge and discharge instructions correlate with improved patient comprehension.
• The intervention effectively increased patient awareness of necessary birth control precautions.