Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 4 , Pages 454-461.e15 , April 2009

Patient Comprehension of Emergency Department Care and Instructions: Are Patients Aware of When They Do Not Understand?

Presented as an abstract at the annual meeting for the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, May 2006, San Francisco, CA.

  • Kirsten G. Engel, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
    • Department of Emergency Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress for correspondence: Kirsten G. Engel, MD, Department of Emergency Medicine, Northwestern University, 259 East Erie Street, Suite 100, Chicago, IL 60611; 847-902-3389, fax 312-926-6274
    • ,
  • Michele Heisler, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
    • VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI
    • ,
  • Dylan M. Smith, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
    • VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI
    • Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI
    • ,
  • Claire H. Robinson, MPH

      Affiliations

    • VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI
    • ,
  • Jane H. Forman, ScD, MHS

      Affiliations

    • VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI
    • ,
  • Peter A. Ubel, MD

      Affiliations

    • Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
    • Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
    • VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, MI
    • Center for Behavioral and Decision Sciences in Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI

Received 18 December 2007 ,Revised 11 March 2008 ,Accepted 8 May 2008.

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 Supervising editor: J. Stephan Stapczynski, MD

 Author contributions: KGE, MH, DMS, and PAU conceived the study and designed the survey tools. KGE and PAU trained the research assistants. KGE supervised the research assistants and the data collection process. All 6 authors met on a biweekly basis to discuss the project's progress and to generate the coder's guidelines. At the completion of data collection, all of the authors participated in the analysis of comprehension scores and met for debriefing sessions. KGE was responsible for the remainder of the data analysis and initial drafting of the article. PAU was responsible for a preliminary revision of the article. All authors contributed substantially to subsequent revisions. KGE takes responsibility for the paper as a whole.

 Funding and support: By Annals policy, all authors are required to disclose any and all commercial, financial, and other relationships in any way related to the subject of this article that might create any potential conflict of interest. The authors have stated that no such relationships exist. See the Manuscript Submission Agreement in this issue for examples of specific conflicts covered by this statement.

 Publication dates: Available online July 10, 2008.

 Reprints not available from the authors.

PII: S0196-0644(08)00831-7

doi: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2008.05.016

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 53, Issue 4 , Pages 454-461.e15 , April 2009

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