BMC Public Health 2008, 8:284 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/8/284 dFWeiglhiuveernreepd4athieenatlsthwparnotmhoeatilothn pwriothminottihoen haonsdpwitahlen they were When patients want health promotion and when they were delivered health promotion within the hospital. White fill: When patients wanted to receive health education, Grey fill: When patients received health educa- tion. the third most popular time for receiving health educa- tion, and just after admission the least popular. A number of patients (10.9%) also reported that they did not want any form of health education during their hospital admis- sion. Hospital setting The majority of participants agreed that hospital was a "good place" to receive health education and that "the hospital should provide patients with details of commu- nity organisations that provide" health education (see Table 4). The largest proportion of respondents were undecided about whether they would prefer to get health education from their GP rather than hospital staff. Just over half of the responders would like the hospital to let their GP know about their risk factors and the health education they received while in hospital. While 23.8% did not want their GP to know about their risk factors, only 15.7% did not want the hospital to inform their GP Table 4: Responses to general statements of the health education they had received. Out of the 31 disagreeing with letting their GP know about their risk fac- tors, 2 were smokers, 2 reported consuming alcohol above recommended limits (and 7 had positive five shot scores). Of the 10 strongly disagreeing, 3 were smokers and 2 mis- used alcohol (self-reported units and five shot tool). Exactly the same people who misused alcohol "disa- greed"/"strongly disagreed" with their GP being told about the health education they received, but only 1 smoker (strongly) disagreed with their GP being told about the health education received. Discussion The results of this survey indicate that hospital patients view hospitals as an appropriate place for the delivery of health education for all risk factors. While there was clear support for screening all adult hospital patients for risk factors, reported screening was not ideal for any of the risk factors, in particular for diet and physical activity. There was also considerable demand for health education, but little provision. While it appears that the hospital may not be meeting UK public health requirements or international standards for health education within hospitals [1-4], some may ques- tion whether patients' recall was accurate. Patients' mem- ory may be affected by the emotional state they were in when information was imparted, potentially resulting in attentional narrowing or state-dependent learning [22,23]. Memory may also be affected by the perceived importance of information (diagnosis is viewed as very important and treatment less so), and age-related cogni- tive impairments [23]. The communication style of healthcare professionals delivering health promotion services also affects recall, with patients more likely to remember medical information if healthcare profession- als provide simple to follow, specific written instructions (rather than general/verbal instructions) [23]. Medical information is least likely to be recalled, and therefore acted upon, if it is delivered verbally compared to written/ Statement Hospital is a good place for patients to receive HE The hospital should provide patients with details of community organisations that provide HE I would prefer HE from GP rather than hospital staff I would like the hospital to let my GP know about my smoking, diet, exercise, and alcohol intake I would like the hospital to let my GP know about the HE I received from hospital staff HE: health education (written as "health promotion" in full in the questionnaire) 22.9% 21.0% 4.5% 14.0% 10.8% 63.7% 61.9% 27.3% 40.7% 50.0% Response 10.1% 13.6% 44.3% 21.5% 23.5% 2.8% 3.4% 19.9% 18.0% 12.0% Strongly agree Agree Undecided Disagree Strongly disagree Total (n) 0.6% 0.0% 4.0% 5.8% 3.6% 179 176 176 172 166 Page 7 of 10 (page number not for citation purposes)