• Anupama A Goyal, Komalpreet Tur, Jason Mann, Whitney Townsend, Scott A Flanders, and Vineet Chopra.
• Division of Hospital Medicine, Michigan Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. anugoyal@med.umich.edu.
• J Hosp Med. 2017 Nov 1; 12 (11): 930936930-936.

BackgroundAlthough common, the impact of low-cost bedside visual tools, such as whiteboards, on patient care is unclear.PurposeTo systematically review the literature and assess the influence of bedside visual tools on patient satisfaction.Data SourcesMedline, Embase, SCOPUS, Web of Science, CINAHL, and CENTRAL.Data ExtractionStudies of adult or pediatric hospitalized patients reporting physician identification, understanding of provider roles, patient-provider communication, and satisfaction with care from the use of visual tools were included. Outcomes were categorized as positive, negative, or neutral based on survey responses for identification, communication, and satisfaction. Two reviewers screened studies, extracted data, and assessed the risk of study bias.Data SynthesisSixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Visual tools included whiteboards (n = 4), physician pictures (n = 7), whiteboard and picture (n = 1), electronic medical record-based patient portals (n = 3), and formatted notepads (n = 1). Tools improved patients' identification of providers (13/13 studies). The impact on understanding the providers' roles was largely positive (8/10 studies). Visual tools improved patient-provider communication (4/5 studies) and satisfaction (6/8 studies). In adults, satisfaction varied between positive with the use of whiteboards (2/5 studies) and neutral with pictures (1/5 studies). Satisfaction related to pictures in pediatric patients was either positive (1/3 studies) or neutral (1/3 studies). Differences in tool format (individual pictures vs handouts with pictures of all providers) and study design (randomized vs cohort) may explain variable outcomes.ConclusionThe use of bedside visual tools appears to improve patient recognition of providers and patient-provider communication. Future studies that include better design and outcome assessment are necessary before widespread use can be recommended.© 2017 Society of Hospital Medicine

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