Experimental Study on Video Discharge Instructions for Pediatric Fever in an Emergency Department

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Emergency Medicine
• Health Literacy
• Patient Education

Background:

• Fever is a common reason for pediatric emergency department (PED) visits.
• Effective discharge instructions are crucial for home management, reducing caregiver anxiety, and preventing re-consultations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of verbal discharge instructions versus verbal instructions supplemented with video information in improving caregiver knowledge about fever.
• To assess the impact of video instructions on the rate of return visits to the PED.

Main Methods:

• A prospective, single-center study randomized 150 pediatric patients (3 months-5 years) with febrile syndrome.
• Caregivers in the control group received standard verbal and written instructions; the intervention group received additional video instructions.
• Caregiver knowledge was assessed via a written test before discharge and a telephone interview post-discharge.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in overall caregiver knowledge improvement between verbal (median score increase: 2 points) and video-supplemented instructions (median score increase: 2 points).
• The video group showed significant improvement in 4 out of 7 questions, compared to 3 out of 7 in the control group.
• Return visit rates were 18.7% in the control group versus 10.9% in the intervention group, though this difference was not statistically significant (P = .188).

Conclusions:

• Video instructions, when added to verbal guidance, did not demonstrate overall superiority in enhancing caregiver fever knowledge.
• A trend suggests that video instructions may help reduce pediatric emergency department return visits.
• Further research may explore the specific impact of video components on reducing re-consultations.