"Open-word" questions: an effective tool in gauging education of patients with COPD

For evaluation of the success of patient education in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), multiple-choice tests are commonly used. Using these tests, however, only passive knowledge can be examined. We attempted to evaluate, with the help of "open-word" questions and keywords, as used in examinations of students of arts, the active knowledge achieved by 12 patients who had been participants in one of our indepth courses of patient education. The results of this "open-word" test were compared with the results of multiple-choice tests with 91 participants. The average results of the "open-word" tests, with 36% correct answers, were remarkably worse than those of the multiple-choice tests with 80% correct answers. In our opinion, this allows the conclusion that the active knowledge attained in the patient-education courses is clearly lower than the passive knowledge achieved, and that, on the other hand, multiple-choice tests cannot be considered as the exclusive method to evaluate the success of patient education because their questions may quite often prove to be too easy.