Understanding Trauma Patient Health Literacy and Patient Discharge
Goals
It is now standard practice for patients to receive a summary of their care following visits to doctors. In the trauma setting, patients receive discharge summaries upon completion of their hospital stay. Compliance with post-discharge instructions is important for recovery, but there is debate about the utility of the discharge summary to patients and its impact on outcomes. Studies show that a significant portion of discharged patients experience adverse events, many of which are preventable. Furthermore, it is known that the quality of discharge summaries varies, and some studies attempt to improve discharge protocols via patient feedback. However, no studies exist that describe patient attitudes and behavior regarding their discharge summaries or which factors may impact them. Factors such as the quality of summaries, health literacy, primary spoken language, socioeconomic class, technological literacy, and others may influence how long a patient retains their discharge summary and how often it is referenced for guidance. These factors may have direct impacts on patient outcomes, including recovery, adverse events, and readmittance. Our goal is to identify such factors and describe correlations between use of discharge summaries and patient health outcomes.
Issues Involved or Addressed
To maximize patient outcomes, it is important to understand how the backgrounds of trauma patients inform their attitudes and behavior, which in turn have impacts on their health outcomes.
Key terms in our research include:
- trauma care
- quality improvement
- health literacy
- health equity
Methods and Tech
This study aims to gather preliminary data on correlative trends on social and cultural factors in post-discharge success by following up with patients from a major level 1 trauma center. This data will inform further investigations and eventual improvements to discharge protocol.
Team members will engage in patient recruitment and interviewing to collect data. Participatory design principles will be used to develop solutions and propose changes.
Team members may also use Synthesia, an artificial intelligence video-generating program capable of rendering videos in multiple languages. Synthesia will be used to investigate alternative media types and formats to improve discharge practices and outcomes.
Academic Majors of Interest
Open to all majors and minors, with particular interest in students from the Health Sciences colleges, School of Information, Sociology, and Healthcare Management.
Preferred Interests and Preparation
No prior skills or experience are needed. Skills of particular value include Spanish proficiency or fluency, study design, and data analysis.
Students should value patient privacy and be open to interacting with patients and healthcare professionals on a multidisciplinary team.
Application Process
This team is currently full for Spring 2025.