Education Via a Mobile Application Improves Health Literacy After Orthopaedic Trauma

Health literacy is often poor among trauma patients. We introduced an educational mobile application to newly injured patients. We hypothesized that patients who used the app would be more informed about their injury and treatment recommendations, and that app users would demonstrate greater adherence to treatment recommendations.

Prospective, cohort study.

Level 1 trauma center.

Adult patients with acute orthopaedic injury.

App with educational information about injuries, treatment, and recovery ( bit.ly/traumaapp ).

Survey regarding knowledge about injury and treatment and adherence to recommendations.

Three hundred thirty-nine patients were enrolled: 187 received information about the app; 105 of them used the app. Another 234 patients had no prior knowledge about the app. App users were more often female (56.2% vs. 37.6%, P = 0.002). App users were more likely to have completed college (34.3% vs. 13.7%, P < 0.0001). Better health literacy was noted among app users in all measurements, including knowledge of fracture location (69% vs. 39%, P < 0.0001), treatment (100% vs. 93%, P = 0.002), weight-bearing status (96% vs. 88%, P = 0.001), estimated healing time (63% vs. 26%, P < 0.0001), and DVT prophylaxis (93% vs. 81%, P = 0.003).

Patients who used the app were more likely to have accurate knowledge in all assessed categories, with over 99% reporting adherence to weight-bearing recommendations. It is probable that this level of knowledge and engagement will enhance various outcomes after injury.

Therapeutic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.