Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 25, Issue 3 , Pages 317-320 , March 1995

Discharge Instructions: Do Illustrations Help Our Patients Understand Them?

Presented as a poster at the annual meeting of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine, Washington, DC, May 1994.

Received 8 August 1994 ,Accepted 21 September 1994.

References 

  1. Gray P. Adding up the under-skilled. Time September. 1993;142:75
  2. Kirsch IS, Jungeblut A, Jenkins L, et al.  Adult Literacy in America: A First Look at the Results of the National Adult Literacy Survey. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office; 1993;
  3. Jolly BT, Scott JL, Feied CF, et al.  Functional illiteracy among emergency department patients: A preliminary study. Ann Emerg Med. 1993;22:573–578
  4. Powers RD. Emergency department patient literacy and the readability of patient-directed materials. Ann Emerg Med. 1988;17:124–126
  5. Doak CC, Doak LG, Root JH. Teaching Patients With Low Literacy Skills. Philadelphia: JB Lippincott; 1985;
  6. Friedman S, Jolly BT, Fineberg SL, et al.  Improving patient understanding: An evaluation of pictorial discharge instructions in the emergency department (abstract). Ann Emerg Med. 1994;23:627

 From the Department of Emergency Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine*; East Carolina University School of Medicine (student); and Center for Health Sciences Communication, East Carolina University School of Medicine§, Greenville, North Carolina.

☆☆ Address for reprints: Kathleen A Dunn, MD, MSPH, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brody 4W-54, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina 27858, 919-816-2954, Fax 919-816-3589,

 Reprint no. 47/1/62317

PII: S0196-0644(95)70286-5

Annals of Emergency Medicine
Volume 25, Issue 3 , Pages 317-320 , March 1995