The effects of enhanced discharge education on knowledge retention in first time stroke/TIA patients

The purpose of this study is to determine whether patients aged 40-65 years, who are admitted for stroke or a transient ischemic attack (TIA) for the first time and who receive enhanced stroke discharge education have higher levels of education retention than patients aged 40-65 years who are admitted for stroke/TIA for the first time who receive standard stroke discharge education without the enhancement. Forty male and female participants were randomly placed into either a standard discharge education N=20 or enhanced discharge education group: N=20. The standard discharge education group received the usual stroke/TIA discharge education administered by the staff nurses on the stroke unit while the enhanced discharge education group received a one on one education session, with the principal investigator, in addition to the standard hospital discharge education provided by the staff. Participants were administered the Stroke Patient Education Retention (SPER) Questionnaire prior to the education, after the education (prior to discharge) and at 30 days after discharge. Utilizing an independent samples t-test it was determined that there was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups in relation to the pretest scores (p=.497). However, a statistically significant difference did exist between the two groups on the post test and 30-day follow-up with (