Improving Care Transitions: The Patient Perspective

Figures & data

Table 1. Patient characteristics (N = 125)

Characteristic	n (%)
Site
Vanderbilt Medical Center	104 (83.2)
Brigham and Women's Hospital	21 (16.8)
Age in years*	63 (54–73)
Gender
Female	56 (44.8)
Male	69 (55.2)
Race
White	102 (81.6)
Black	21 (16.8)
Other	2 (1.6)
Years of education*	13 (12–16)
Health literacy (short test of Functional Health Literacy in Adults)
Inadequate	15 (12.0)
Marginal	14 (11.2)
Adequate	96 (76.8)
Cognitive function (Mini-Cog)
Dementia	16 (12.8)
No cognitive impairment	109 (87.2)
Insurance status, none	11 (8.7)
Number of preadmission medications*	9 (5–12)
Medication Understanding (Medication Understanding Questionnaire)*	2.50 (2.25–2.75)

Table 2. Utility of different forms of assistance in hospital discharge transition (N = 125)

Item	Very helpful N (%)	Somewhat helpful N (%)	Not at all helpful N (%)	N/A (%)
How helpful was it to …
1. Talk with the pharmacist about your medicines before you left the hospital?	91 (72.8)	29 (23.2)	3 (2.4)	2 (1.6)
2. Get a daily medication schedule, which uses pictures to show what the medicines are for and how to take them?	87 (69.6)	18 (14.4)	7 (5.6)	13 (10.4)
3. Get a pill box?*	80 (64.5)	9 (7.3)	15 (12.1)	20 (16.1)
4. Have someone call you at home a couple of days after you got out of the hospital to check on how you were doing?	85 (68.0)	30 (24.0)	7 (5.6)	3 (2.4)
5. Get help from friends or family to manage your medicines?	55 (44.0)	21 (16.8)	25 (20.0)	24 (19.2)
How helpful was it to talk to the pharmacist about …
6. Exactly how you should take your medicines?	89 (71.8)	23 (18.5)	6 (4.8)	6 (4.8)
7. Reading and understanding medication labels?	75 (60.4)	28 (22.6)	8 (6.5)	13 (10.5)
8. Always filling your prescriptions on time?	76 (61.3)	21 (16.9)	13 (10.5)	14 (11.3)
9. Taking your medicines every day, without missing any doses?	73 (58.9)	29 (23.4)	12 (9.7)	10 (8.1)
10. Preventing and managing side effects?*	77 (62.6)	24 (19.5)	5 (4.1)	17 (13.8)
11. Specific problems you were having, like the cost of your medicines or transportation?	50 (40.3)	25 (20.2)	12 (9.7)	37 (29.8)

Table 3. Comfort level with patient–provider communications (N = 125)

Item	Much more n (%)	Slightly more n (%)	About the same n (%)	Slightly less n (%)	Much less n (%)	N/A n (%)
After meeting with the pharmacist, how much more comfortable do you feel talking to your doctor about …
1. The names of your new medicines?*	61 (49.6)	13 (10.6)	40 (32.5)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	9 (7.3)
2. What your new medicines are for?	66 (53.7)	13 (10.6)	35 (28.5)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	9 (7.3)
3. What to do with your old medicines?	43 (35.0)	11 (8.9)	44 (35.8)	1 (0.8)	1 (0.8)	23 (18.7)
4. Any problems you might have taking your medicines every day?	59 (48.0)	12 (9.8)	43 (35.0)	1 (0.8)	0 (0.0)	8 (6.5)
5. Dealing with side effects of medicines?	65 (53.3)	19 (15.6)	31 (25.4)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	7 (5.7)
6. Specific problems you were having, like the cost of your medicines or transportation?	46 (37.7)	15 (12.3)	45 (36.9)	0 (0.0)	0 (0.0)	16 (13.1)

Table 4. Patients reporting “very helpful” for each item, by health literacy level

Item	Inadequate or marginal health literacy % (n/N)*	Adequate health literacy % (n/N)*	p
How helpful was it to…
1. Talk with the pharmacist about your medicines before you left the hospital?	89.7 (26/29)	69.1 (65/94)	0.03
2. Get a daily medication schedule, which uses pictures to show what the medicines are for and how to take them?	88.5 (23/26)	74.4 (64/86)	0.13
3. Get a pill box?	78.3 (18/23)	76.5 (62/81)	0.86
4. Have someone call you at home a couple of days after you got out of the hospital to check on how you were doing?	89.3 (25/28)	63.8 (60/94)	0.01
5. Get help from friends or family to manage your medicines?	66.7 (18/27)	50.0 (37/74)	0.14
How helpful was it to talk to the pharmacist about …
6. Exactly how you should take your medicines?	75.0 (21/28)	75.6 (68/90)	0.95
7. Reading and understanding medication labels?	81.5 (22/27)	63.1 (53/84)	0.08
8. Always filling your prescriptions on time?	84.6 (22/26)	64.3 (54/84)	0.05
9. Taking your medicines every day without missing any doses?	77.8 (21/27)	59.8 (52/87)	0.09
10. Preventing and managing side effects?	87.0 (20/23)	68.7 (57/83)	0.08
11. Specific problems you were having, like the cost of your medicines or transportation?	71.4 (15/21)	53.0 (35/66)	0.14