Clinical trial NCT03815500: Patient Education at Dismissal After Surgical Procedure
Official title: Patient Education at Dismissal After Surgical Procedure: Clinical Outcome Implications and Improvement Strategies
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: WITHDRAWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Wound Infection Post-Traumatic
Wound Infection
Wound Complication
Wound Breakdown
Wound Open
Lead sponsor: Mayo Clinic
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2019-01-24
Enrollment: 0
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Brief summary: Can improvements in patient dismissal education materials reduce incidence of wound non-healing and infection.

Detailed description: The investigators seek to address the specific educational needs of patients and caregivers with low-literacy, dyslexia and related learning disabilities in the context of properly performing wound care for patients with surgical wounds. Specific aims include both improving care by decreasing wound complications and improving patient satisfaction by using techniques designed for this population. Objectives include utilizing surveys to determine the incidence of dyslexia among the patients' and caregivers' within the general surgery service as well as the perception of our current educational offerings, to design a new dismissal package with enhanced educational offerings, to re-measure this effect on the patient experience with survey data, and to compare wound infection rates before and after implementing the new curriculum. Dyslexia and associated learning disabilities are common and likely impact the health literacy among this population due to the ubiquitous literacy-based documentation of hospital course and dismissal instructions. Adults with dyslexia may be reluctant to disclose any inability to understand written instructions. There is currently no mechanism within the dismissal system to specifically identify and address the unique needs of this population. The impact on clinical outcomes of proper wound packing is substantial, and if performed incorrectly can lead to slow wound healing and infections that often require readmission, multiple courses of antibiotics, and reoperation. In severe cases, improper wound care can lead to severe infection, sepsis, and death. By enhancing the educational offerings of proper wound care to this population, the investigators hope to reduce these complications.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Adult patients on the general surgery service with open wounds requiring packing

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with wound vacs
* Patients receiving exclusively professional wound care or home health services

Primary outcomes:
measure: Utilization of education curriculum designed for learners with low literacy, dyslexia and associate learning disorders
timeFrame: 6 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Patient satisfaction with wound education
timeFrame: 6 months
measure: shorter time to wound healing
timeFrame: 1 year
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Mayo Clinic
name: Martin D Zielinski
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: