News Release

Study: Video Images Better Than Written Word In Educating And Satisfying Patients

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Duke University Medical Center

NEW ORLEANS -- A short, inexpensive educational videotape significantly improved patients' satisfaction with their doctor's visit and their compliance with subsequent treatment, a new study from Duke University Medical Center has shown. Pamphlets were found to be virtually worthless.

In the first such study comparing videos to written materials utilizing a spectrum of patient measures -- from basic understanding of their condition to confidence in treatment to following doctor's orders -- the Duke researchers have demonstrated the superiority of the moving image over the written word.

Patient education tools are just one strategy in what researcher Dr. Lloyd Hey calls "diverting the river" of the way medicine is practiced in the outpatient setting. He believes that using videotapes as patient education tools will become an integral component of the re-engineered "waiting room" of the future.

Hey, an orthopedic surgeon and director of Duke's Center for Clinical Effectiveness, prepared the results of his study for presentation Friday (March 20) at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Hey also envisions the use of interactive computers, where patients can update information about themselves, their level of satisfaction with their treatment, and learn more about their condition. Instead of patients passively reading outdated magazines or fuming about long waits, Hey wants patients to use that time to actively learn about their condition and provide information, via computers, to their physicians.

"If patients have seen a video before seeing me, I can focus on the next level of education," Hey explained. "We can discuss how their back pain and treatments will impact their everyday lives, their families, their jobs. All the time spent in the clinic should be additive -- the time watching a video, using the computer, the physician's evaluation. It all works to bring a higher level of understanding of their problem.

"The way we as physicians see patients in the clinic hasn't changed much in 80 years," Hey said. "Usually, the patients are early, the doctor is late. We need to rethink the whole process and re-engineer it so that the patient is more important than the doctor."

The videotape study involved 313 patients who came to the Duke outpatient spine clinic with complaints of lower back pain. Before seeing their physician, one-third of the patients watched a 15-minute low-back pain videotape; one-third were given a pamphlet about back pain to read; and the remaining one-third weren't given anything.

Immediately after the appointment, patients completed detailed two-page questionnaires. Three weeks after the appointment, researchers called patients to see how well they were taking their prescribed medication, participating in physical therapy and exercising on a regular basis.

"The video was clearly superior in increasing patients' overall satisfaction with their experience, as well as complying with treatment," Hey said. "For a very small investment in tapes and equipment, we can provide a great service to our patients. We were quite surprised to find how badly the pamphlets compared -- no better than doing nothing."

Specifically, 88.4 percent of patients who watched the videotape reported the highest score on the questionnaire for compliance with treatment, compared to 69.5 percent for those who received pamphlets and 72 percent who received nothing. For satisfaction, video patients reported the highest score, at 66 percent, compared to 31 percent for both pamphlets and no educational tools.

The videotape, produced by the Arthritis Foundation, was selected for the study by researchers after many tapes were viewed by focus groups composed of patients who have suffered from back pain.

"The key to this particular video is that it features many different kinds of patients talking about their experiences, their fears, and the benefits of therapy," Hey said. "People watching it can easily identify with others who are having the same problems. Pamphlets just can't do that as effectively."

Joining Hey in the study were orthopedic surgeon Dr. William Richardson, and fourth-year Duke medical student Daniel Yoder. The study was supported by Duke's department of surgery.

###



Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.