Emergency Department Discharge Teaching Interventions: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Health Education
• Translational Science

Background:

• Emergency department discharge education aims to improve patient self-management and prevent adverse outcomes.
• Current discharge education methods are often ineffective, leading to poor recall, increased hospital readmissions, and higher healthcare costs.
• A scoping review was conducted to identify and analyze existing emergency department discharge education interventions and their evaluated outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore discharge education interventions studied in emergency departments.
• To identify outcomes used to evaluate the effectiveness of these interventions.
• To inform the development of improved discharge education strategies.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive literature review was performed using major academic databases (PubMed/Medline, CINAHL, ERIC).
• Search terms focused on emergency nursing and patient discharge education interventions.
• 18 studies meeting specific inclusion criteria were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Interventions varied in target conditions, populations, and learning style approaches (auditory, visual, reading/writing, multimodal).
• Visual and auditory interventions were most common; multimodal approaches were utilized in 7 studies.
• Evaluated outcomes encompassed patient education, self-management, clinical results, adherence, and health system metrics.

Conclusions:

• Multimodal discharge education, addressing varied learning styles and health literacy, enhances patient education, self-management, and clinical outcomes.
• Supplementary support and reminders are crucial for improving patient adherence to discharge instructions.
• Gaps exist in kinesthetic and culturally tailored educational interventions, necessitating further research and translational science for sustainable clinical practice improvements.