ArticlePLOS digital health2025
The behavioural and cognitive impacts of digital educational interventions in the emergency department: A systematic review.
Article in PLOS digital health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ensuring patients and their caregivers understand the health information they receive is an important part of every clinical visit. Digital educational interventions like video discharge instructions, follow-up text messaging, or interactive web-based modules (WBMs) have the potential to improve information retention and influence behaviour. This study aims to systematically evaluate the impact of these interventions on patient and caregiver cognition and behaviour, as well as identify the characteristics of successful interventions and observe how success is measured. In December of 2022, a systematic literature search was conducted in several databases (Cochrane, Embase, MEDLINE (Ovid), Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Google Scholar) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published between 2012 and 2022. In 2024, an identical search was performed for articled published between 2022 and 2024. Studies testing patient- and caregiver-facing digital educational interventions in the emergency department for behavioural and cognitive outcomes were included. Data from 35 eligible studies encompassing 12,410 participants were analyzed and assessed for bias using the Cochrane RoB2.0 tool. Video was used in 22 studies (63%), making it the most common modality. Seventy-three percent (16/22) of these studies reported statistically significant improvements in their primary outcomes. Text messaging was used in eight studies, with two (25%) reporting significant improvement in their primary outcomes. WBMs and apps were used in seven studies, 71% (5/7) of which reported statistically significant improvements in primary outcomes. Statistically significant improvements in cognitive outcomes were reported in 64% (18/28) of applicable studies, compared with 17% (4/23) for behavioural outcomes. The results suggest that digital educational interventions can positively impact cognitive outcomes in the emergency department. Video, WBM, and app modalities appear particularly effective. However, digital educational interventions may not yet effectively change behaviour. Establishing guidelines for evaluating the quality of digital educational interventions, and the formal adoption of existing reporting guidelines, could improve study quality and consistency in this emerging field. Registration The study is registered with PROSPERO ID #CRD42023338771.
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.