Examining The Role Of Sickle Cell Disease Patients As Teachers In The Emergency Department: Patient Directed Physician Education

Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) patients are amongst the most frequent utilizers of the emergency department (ED) for acute vaso-occlusive pain episodes (“crisis”). Unfortunately, ED SCD care often fails to meet guideline recommendations. This results in preventable morbidity and mortality as well as substantial resource utilization. Current care interventions across multiple domains have not led to sustained improvements, likely due in part to negative attitudes and beliefs among health care providers (HCP). Novel mechanisms of physician education are required to improve outcomes. An emerging method of education in SCD is the use of patients as “just in time” teachers. We refer to this as Patient Directed Physician Education (PDPE) and define it as a broad range of activities in which patients relay actionable information to HCPs in the clinical setting. While there is a growing body of research supporting patients as teachers, no group has specifically examined point of care PDPE in a SCD population.