Trial reportGesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany))2023
Associations of an Easy-to-Understand Patient Letter on the Health Literacy of Patients after Discharge from Hospital: Results of a Randomized Controlled Intervention Study.
Trial report in Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of GPT-4-Generated Discharge Letters on Patients' Medical Comprehension: Prospective Crossover Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Trial
- Evaluating the impact of easy-to-understand patient letters after discharge on patients' health literacy: a randomized controlled study.BMC health services research · 2025Trial
- Tailored personas for self-management in home-based rehabilitation for participants with lower limb lymphedema: A qualitative study.International journal of nursing studies advances · 2026Article
- MyCODE: a prospective evaluation of lay-language molecular tumor board protocols in precision oncology.The oncologist · 2026Article
- Policy Recommendations for Information Prescribing to Heart Failure Patients to Reduce Readmissions, Mortality, and Costs.Journal of caring sciences · 2026Article
- Limitations of informed consent in routine clinical practice - An observational survey study to characterize patient populations with limited understanding of the routine informed consent process in an anaesthesia clinic.BMC anesthesiology · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
background54% of the German population has limited health literacy, which is associated with poorer health outcomes and higher utilization of the healthcare system. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this pilot study was to examine the effects of an easy-to-understand patient letter on patients' health literacy after discharge from a Clinic for Internal Medicine and to analyze patients' need for written, easy-to-understand information.
methodIn a randomized controlled trial (2016-2018), the effects of the patient letter on health literacy were examined by means of the HLS-EU-Q47 questionnaire. The intervention group (IG, n=242) received an easy-to-understand patient letter 3 days after discharge, the control group (KG, n=175) received only the usual medical discharge letter.
results60% of post-discharge patients were found to have limited health literacy. The study could not show any effect of patient letters on overall health literacy. The analysis of single items of health literacy showed positive effects of these letters on patients' comprehension of medical advice as well as their understanding and implementation of medication instructions (Cohens d≥0.20). Furthermore, patients expressed their wish for information after discharge from hospital (99%) and rated the patient letter as informative, understandable and helpful.
conclusionsPatients wish to receive and are empowered by an easy-to-understand letter after discharge from hospital with medical information and medical instructions that they can implement at home.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.