• Ronald Sahyouni, Amin Mahmoodi, Amir Mahmoodi, Ramin R Rajaii, Bima J Hasjim, David Bustillo, Melissa Huang, Diem Kieu Tran, and Jefferson W Chen.
• UC Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, California.
• Neurosurgery. 2017 Mar 28.

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Educational interventions may alleviate the burden of TBI for patients and their families. Interactive modalities that involve engagement with the educational material may enhance patient knowledge acquisition when compared to static text-based educational material.ObjectiveTo determine the effects of educational interventions in the outpatient setting on self-reported patient knowledge, with a focus on iPad-based (Apple, Cupertino, California) interactive modules.MethodsPatients and family members presenting to a NeuroTrauma clinic at a tertiary care academic medical center completed a presurvey assessing baseline knowledge of TBI or concussion, depending on the diagnosis. Subjects then received either an interactive iBook (Apple) on TBI or concussion, or an informative pamphlet with identical information in text format. Subjects then completed a postsurvey prior to seeing the neurosurgeon.ResultsAll subjects (n = 152) significantly improved on self-reported knowledge measures following administration of either an iBook (Apple) or pamphlet ( P < .01, 95% confidence interval [CI]). Subjects receiving the iBook (n = 122) performed significantly better on the postsurvey ( P < .01, 95% CI), despite equivalent presurvey scores, when compared to those receiving pamphlets (n = 30). Lastly, patients preferred the iBook to pamphlets ( P < .01, 95% CI).ConclusionEducational interventions in the outpatient NeuroTrauma setting led to significant improvement in self-reported measures of patient and family knowledge. This improved understanding may increase compliance with the neurosurgeon's recommendations and may help reduce the potential anxiety and complications that arise following a TBI.

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