Poster Board Number: 91
Title: Increasing Health Knowledge with Multimedia Computer-assisted Education
Objective: To determine if patients' knowledge of their medical conditions improves after taking a computer-based educational tutorial during an outpatient visit.
Methods: In this pre-post study, conducted at an outpatient internal medicine clinic, English-speaking adult patients, aged 18-65, with the diagnosis of hypertension (n=45), were recruited to complete a socio-demographic form and a knowledge questionnaire about their medical condition. Participants were randomized to receive either usual patient education or usual patient education plus the addition of an online, self-paced MedlinePlus tutorial. Patients were contacted approximately 2 months after their initial visit and given the same knowledge questionnaire by phone. A t test was used to determine outcome comparisons between groups.
Results: A 2-tailed independent sample t test showed significant improvement (P<0.05) in the intervention group (n=21) of 0.76 with a standard deviation of 1.136. Control group (n=15) mean improvement was 0.00, with a standard deviation of .655.
Conclusions: This study demonstrates that patients completing an interactive computer tutorial achieved greater subject knowledge of their medical condition than those receiving usual patient education in an outpatient setting.
Authors: Kelly Near, Outreach Librarian, Claude Moore Health Sciences Library; Cassandra Morelos, Doctoral Student, School of Nursing; Mohan Nadkarni, Associate Professor and Medical Director, University Medical Associates, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA; Indu Chelliah, Student; Yale University, New Haven, CT
