Roughly half of patients are able to correctly remember post-discharge treatment plans and diagnosis details, even though 90 percent of patients say they feel confident in their knowledge of this upon discharge, a study published by The Joint Commission found.
The findings underscore what has been long suspected regarding information breakdowns and lack of retention that often happens between patients and providers after leaving in-hospital care.
Even despite modern technology and tools for communicating the information, like patient portals, their retention still remains low, researchers found. As part of the study, researchers engaged with patients to ask what they suggest may help improve retention from in-hospital care to post-discharge treatment. Patients cited analog pen and paper in their hospital rooms to allow them to take notes while reviewing care treatment with their healthcare team as one solution. They also suggested that whiteboards be consistently updated with diagnosis and treatment information, despite findings also showing that this specific method was rated to be one of the least helpful.
"Further efforts are needed to enhance or implement facilitators based on patient feedback," researchers wrote of their findings.