Margot Jackson, John Skinner
Research has shown that people forget a considerable amount of the information they are given in medical consultations. This can have consequencesin terms of compliance with treatment plans, frequentattendance, missed appointments and stafftime in providing reminders and rescheduling appointments.This paper looks at the benefits patients perceived in receiving personalised audio information recorded on a digital recording device (DRD) as a reminder of the advice they had been given during their consultation with a health professional. Patients over the age of 18 years attending general practice who needed an interpreter to accompanythem into their appointment were recruited from the Somali community. At the end of the consultation, patients were given a recording in their own language of information relating to their health. Patients were contacted approximately one weeklater by an interpreter who carried out a telephone questionnaire. The DRDs were well accepted and found useful for remembering advice given, instructions on medication and appointment times. The devices appear especially useful for older people and those who reported having memory problems.
