Online education improves knowledge, satisfaction for orthopedic patients
Online patient education for individuals with orthopedic conditions is a low-cost and effective route to improving knowledge and satisfaction, according to a study published April 23 in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
As the number of older patients increase, orthopedic questions are more prevalent. Nearly two in three patients—65 percent—use the Internet to research orthopedic conditions or upcoming treatment. This study set out to determine the effectiveness of online education versus conventional in-person consultations or booklets.
“Patient education is a valuable part of care that enables patients to be informed, active participants in their own treatment,” wrote first author Tessa Dekkers, MSc, and colleagues. “Traditionally, it is provided through face-to-face teaching methods by healthcare professionals (HCPs). However, as both internet access and the availability of health information on public websites increases, it is now common for patients to also use the internet to learn about health and illness.”
Researchers analyzed CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PUBMED, ScienceDirect, Scopus and Web of Science for relevant published works between 1995 and 2016. English and Danish studies that included patient education delivered online to adult orthopedic patients were included.
Overall, 10 trials reported in 14 studies with 4,172 patients were included in the evaluation. Researchers found nine showed online patient education increased patients’ knowledge and seven trials had improved satisfaction and good evaluations following online education.
“Web-based patient education may be offered as a time- and cost-effective alternative to current educational interventions when the objective is to improve patients’ knowledge and satisfaction,” concluded Dekkers and colleagues. “The comparative evaluation of Web-based educational interventions is especially relevant: to generic health information websites that potentially form a strong co-intervention and to traditional patient education interventions that may be more effective but have higher costs. However, these findings may not be representative for the whole orthopedic patient population as most trials included considerably younger, higher-educated and internet-savvy participants only.”
Cara joined TriMed Media in 2016 and is currently a Senior Writer for Clinical Innovation & Technology. Originating from Detroit, Michigan, she holds a Bachelors in Health Communications from Grand Valley State University.