• Aiden Cushnahan, Boon Shih Sie, and Vikas Wadhwa.
• Department of Medicine, Eastern Health, Monash and Deakin Universities, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
• Singapore Med J. 2024 Jul 5.

IntroductionAdverse clinical outcomes and patient dissatisfaction with care often have elements of poor communication. Factors such as illness and pharmacotherapy can affect cognition, and overestimation of patients' health literacy may contribute to suboptimal communication with patients regarding their hospitalisation and post-discharge instructions. Improved patient understanding and recall of their diagnoses and treatment is critical for adherence to treatment, follow-up and optimal clinical outcomes. The aim of the study was to assess whether a coproduced and codesigned patient-centred discharge form (PCDF) improves patients' understanding of their discharge diagnosis, in-hospital treatment and post-discharge plan.MethodsA sample of 111 patients was enrolled through simple randomisation by admission to one of two identically operating general medicine wards. Over a 3-month period, 59 patients received the coproduced and codesigned form and 52 patients were controls. Assessment of patients' understanding of diagnosis, in-hospital management, post-discharge instructions and overall experience of care was undertaken by a blinded phone survey conducted approximately 6 days after discharge.ResultsPatients who received PCDF were significantly more likely to report adequate understanding of their hospital management (P < 0.001) and the post-discharge plan (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of understanding of diagnosis. Patients who received PCDF reported better understanding of care and recall of admission.ConclusionThe use of PCDF is associated with improved patient understanding with respect to their hospital management and post-discharge instructions. It is also associated with high levels of satisfaction as assessed by measures of patient experience.Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Singapore Medical Journal.

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