PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - David McD Taylor AU - Peter A Cameron TI - Discharge instructions for emergency department patients: what should we provide? AID - 10.1136/emj.17.2.86 DP - 2000 Mar 01 TA - Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine PG - 86--90 VI - 17 IP - 2 4099 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/17/2/86.short 4100 - http://emj.bmj.com/content/17/2/86.full SO - Arch Emerg Med2000 Mar 01; 17 AB - Effective communication between the physician and patient is required for optimum post-emergency department management. Written emergency department discharge instructions, when used to complement verbal instructions, have been shown to improve communication and patient management. This review examines the purpose, advantages, and disadvantages of three commonly used types of discharge instruction. The desirable features of discharge instructions are described. It is recommended that structured, pre-formatted instruction sheets be provided to all patients discharged to home, that emergency departments establish uniform policies to promote best practice in communication, and that the use of discharge instructions be considered as an emergency department performance indicator.