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Three Part Question

Do [patients with adrenaline autoinjectors] prefer [written or audiovisual methods] for [patient education]?

Clinical Scenario

A 24 year old man has been admitted to the hospital after an anaphylactic reaction to shellfish, in accordance with NICE guidelines he should be discharged with an adrenaline autoinjector (eg Epipen), you wonder if using the training DVD will be better than the written information to train the patient how to use his device appropriately?

Search Strategy

Medline 1946 to June Week 1 2013
EMBASE 1980 to 2013 Week 26
CINAHL Plus
((exp epinephrine/) OR (exp self, administration/) OR (exp injections, intramuscular/) OR (adrenalin$.mp) OR (autoinjector.mp) OR (auto-injector.mp) OR (epipen.mp) OR (auvi-q.mp) OR (JEXT.mp) OR (IM.mp) OR (intramuscular$.mp)) AND ((exp pamphlets/) OR (leaflet$.mp) OR (written ADJ information.mp)) AND ((exp television/) OR (exp videodisc recording/) OR (exp audiovisual aids/) OR (dvd.mp)) Limits - English Language, Humans

MESH term (epinephrine) AND MESH term (written communication) AND MESH term (multimedia)

Search Outcome

0 relevant papers

Comment(s)

Currently there to is no published research, which compares patient education options in terms of allergy management. After personal communication with a AAI representative I was informed of the DVDs, online videos and smartphone apps which have been produced for use by both clinicians, parents and carers, although no quantitive or qualitative research has been conducted on these.

Clinical Bottom Line

There is not enough research in this area, therefore clinicians should use the educational methods they feel comfortable with, but familiarise themselves to the online, smartphone app and DVD resources which are available.