RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Patient understanding of liver cirrhosis and improvement using multimedia education
JF Frontline Gastroenterology
JO Frontline Gastroenterol
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP 214
OP 219
DO 10.1136/flgastro-2016-100761
VO 8
IS 3
A1 Matthew A Goldsworthy
A1 Waleed Fateen
A1 Helene Thygesen
A1 Mark A Aldersley
A1 Ian A Rowe
A1 Rebecca L Jones
YR 2017
UL http://fg.bmj.com/content/8/3/214.abstract
AB Objective For patients to engage with the long-term management of liver cirrhosis, sufficient understanding of their condition is essential. The aim of this study was to assess baseline patient knowledge and to test whether a condition-specific multimedia screencast could improve this.Design Service quality improvement study.Setting A UK tertiary liver centre. Patients were recruited during 12 general hepatology outpatient clinics.Patients Fifty-two patients with liver cirrhosis were included. Sixty-two per cent were male; their median age was 56 years and their median clinic attendance period was 3 years.Interventions Participants completed a baseline questionnaire assessing their knowledge of the management and complications of cirrhosis. They then watched a tailored screencast discussing this condition, which had been developed by expert hepatologists in collaboration with patient representatives. Knowledge was reassessed using a new copy of the original questionnaire after an interval of at least one month.Main outcome measures Patient scores on knowledge questionnaires at baseline and follow-up.Results Fifty-two patients achieved a median score of 25.0% before viewing the screencast. Thirty-five patients then completed a follow-up questionnaire after an interval period. The median questionnaire score in this group improved from 25.0% to 66.7%; an increase of 41.7% compared with baseline (p<0.001).Conclusions Despite regular review at a specialist clinic, participants had poor baseline knowledge of liver cirrhosis. Delivering information by screencast led to a significant improvement. We therefore present an effective way to empower patients with accurate, up-to-date and retainable information that can easily be translated to many other conditions.