Evaluation of Therapeutic Knowledge in Lung Transplant Recipients: Preliminary Results of a New Assessment Tool

Purpose To analyze the knowledge about their treatment of lung transplant recipient in the immediate post-transplant period with a new test we have designed. Methods A prospective observational study was carried out from June-December 2019 corresponding to the pilot phase of an e-learning program in lung transplant recipients (e-duca). In order to know the patients´ skills about their treatments and self-care, we designed a 25-multiple answer question test which was completed by the patients before post-transplant discharge. The test includes 18 questions about medication and 7 questions about self-care. The demographic and clinical variables were: age, gender, lung transplant indication, educational attainment and number of drugs prescribed at discharge. The maximal test score (TS) were 25. We considered a high degree of knowledge a TS≥20, moderate 13-20 and deficient Results Sixteen patients were included in the study with a mean age of 61.4 years (R 48 - 68). 81.3 % were men. The lung transplant indication was COPD in 56.3 % (9), IPF in 37.5 % (6) and bronchiectasis no CF in 6.2 % (1).The mean number of drugs prescribed at discharge was 14.31 (R 9-20). The mean TS was 14.56 (R 6 - 22) equivalent to 58.2 % of right answers. The 31.3 % (5) of patients demonstrated a poor, the 62.5 % (10) a moderate and the 6.2 % (1) a high degree of knowledge, respectively. In the figure 1 we describe the most and the least frequently right answers. Conclusion A considerable part of patients, approximately 1 out of 3, showed a deficient therapeutic knowledge in the immediate post-transplant period. This kind of tests allows us to know the patients’ skills about their treatment and to identify tools we can apply to increase the therapeutic and self-care knowledge before post-transplant discharge. The validation of this test may be necessary to be able to extend it to other transplant recipients.