Evaluation of an Educational Video for Cardiac Patients

Abstract

Prehospital delay is a major problem in the management of patients with acute cardiac ischemia. The authors created a patient teaching program consisting of an educational video and written instructions designed to reduce prehospital delays in patients with chest pain. Patients who received standard discharge instructions served as the control group, whereas those who received the new patient teaching in addition to standard discharge instructions served as the intervention group. Of the 500 enrolled, 19% were rehospitalized within 1 year. Analysis of rehospitalizations showed no significant difference between the two groups on the three outcome variables: percentage who presented within the first hour of pain, use of ambulance, and time from anginal onset to emergency department arrival. In a comparison of the index hospitalization to the rehospitalization, there was a significant increase in the use of ambulances for the intervention group, p = .03, but not for the control group.