Aligning Patient Discharge Curricula to Patient-Reported Outcomes in Sub Internship.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• Inadequate patient understanding of post-hospital discharge treatment plans contributes to readmissions and adverse events.
• Limited structured curricula exist for training medical students in safe patient discharge procedures.
• Effective discharge instructions are crucial for patient recovery and preventing complications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured curriculum in enhancing medical students' knowledge and skills related to patient discharge instructions.
• To assess the impact of improved discharge instruction training on patient-reported outcomes.
• To identify key components of discharge education that motivate students to improve patient communication.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods study involving fourth-year medical students during their internal medicine sub-internship.
• Curriculum components included didactics, direct observation with feedback, post-discharge patient phone calls, and debriefing sessions.
• Skills were assessed via direct observation, knowledge via pre- and post-curriculum surveys, and patient outcomes via logistic regression.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in self-reported knowledge and skills regarding patient discharge were observed post-curriculum (p < 0.001).
• Direct observation showed 75% of students could independently perform all discharge tasks after the curriculum.
• Student-led post-discharge phone calls were identified as a key motivator for improving discharge communication.

Conclusions:

• A structured discharge curriculum effectively enhances medical students' competence in providing discharge instructions.
• Improved student training in discharge procedures is associated with better patient-reported outcomes, particularly in urgent situations.
• The findings support the integration of comprehensive discharge education into medical training programs.