Research

Some more recent studies that have evaluated teach-back in different settings include:

Use of teach-back in the Emergency Department

Burke, K.  2018. Improving Patient Discharge Satisfaction Scores by Implementing Teach-Back Instructions in a Community Hospital Emergency Department (ED): A Quality Improvement Project.

Slater, B., Huang, Y., Dalawari, P. 2017. The Impact of Teach-Back Method on Retention of Key Domains of Emergency Department Discharge Instructions. J Emerg Med 53(5):e59-e65.

Hesselink G, Sir O, Kister N, et al. 2022. Teach-back of discharge instructions in the emergency department: a pre–post pilot evaluation. Emergency Medicine Journal. 39:139-146.

Use of teach-back in a telephone helpline service

Morony S., Weir, K., Duncan, G., Biggs J., Nutbeam D., Mccaffery K. 2018. Enhancing communication skills for telehealth: development and implementation of a Teach-Back intervention for a national maternal and child health helpline in Australia. BMC Health Services Research. 18, 162.

Use of teach-back with pharmacists

Tewell, R., Edgerton, L., Kyle, E. 2018. Establishment of a pharmacist-led service for patients at high risk for opioid overdose. Am J Health Syst Pharm. 75(6), 376-383.

Duncan G. et al. 2016. The challenge with teach-back: learning from negative results from the health literacy in pharmacy (HeLP) RCT in Australia. International Journal of Pharmacy and Practice. Supplement 2, 4-32.

O’Mahony, E., Kenny, J., Hayde, J. et al. 2023. Development and evaluation of pharmacist-provided teach-back medication counselling at hospital discharge. Int J Clin Pharm 45, 698–711

References used in the teach-back module

Section 2: The basics of teach-back

  1. Kessels, R. 2003. Patients’ memory for medical information. 96(5), 219-222.
  2. Engel, K. 2009. Patient comprehension of emergency department care and instructions: are patients aware of when they do not understand? Annals of Emergency Medicine. 53(4), 454-461.e415.
  3. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Health literacy: Taking action to improve safety and quality. Sydney: ACSQHC, 2014.

Section 3: How we know someone understands

  1. Olson, D., Windish D. 2010. Communication discrepancies between physicians and hospitalized patients. Arch Intern Med. 170(15), 1302-7.

Section 5: What can we do to help improve communication and understanding?

  1. Ha Dinh, T., Bonner, A., Clark, R., et al. 2016. The effectiveness of the teach‐back method on adherence and self‐management in health education for people with chronic disease: a systematic review. JBI Database of Systematic Reviews and Implementation Reports. 14(1), 210-47.
  2. Negarandeh, R., Mahmoodi, H., Noktehdan, H., et al. 2013. Teach back and pictorial image educational strategies on knowledge about diabetes and medication/dietary adherence among low health literate persons with type 2 diabetes. Primary Care Diabetes. 7(2), 111-8.
  3. Paasche-Orlow, M., Bilderback, A., Chanmugam, A., et al. 2005. Tailored education may reduce health literacy disparities in asthma self-management. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 172(8), 980-986.
  4. Schillinger, D., Piette, J., Grumbach, K., et al. 2003. Closing the loop: physician communication with diabetic persons who have low health literacy. Arch Intern Med. 163, 83–90.
  5. Dantic, D. 2013. A critical review of the effectiveness of ‘teach-back’ technique in teaching COPD persons self-management using respiratory inhalers. Health Educ J. 73(1), 41-50.
  6. DeWalt, D., Malone, R., Bryant, M., et al. 2006. A heart failure self-management program for persons of all literacy levels: A randomized, controlled trial. BMC Health Services Research. 6, 30.
  7. Krumholz, H., Amatruda, J., Smith, G., et al. 2002. Randomized trial of an education and support intervention to preventreadmission of persons with heart failure. JAMA. 39(1), 83-9.
  8. Peter, D., Robinson, P., Jordan, M., et al. 2015. Reducing readmissions using teach-back. Journal of Nursing Administration. 45(1), 35-52.
  9. Kornburger, C., Gibson, C., Sadowski, S., et al. 2013. Using “teach-back” to promote a safe transition from hospital to home: an evidence-based approach to improving the discharge process. Journal of Pediatric Nursing. 28, 282–291.

Section 6: Benefits of using teach-back in the healthcare setting

  1. Beauchamp A, Batterham R, Dodson S, Astbury B, Elsworth G, McPhee C, Jacobson J, Buchbinder R, Osborne R.
    Systematic development and implementation of interventions to OPtimise Health Literacy and Access (Ophelia).
    BMC Public Health (2017) 17:230
  2. Batterham R, Hawkins M, Collins P, Buchbinder R, Osborne R.
    Health literacy: applying current concepts to improve health services and reduce health inequalities.
    Public Health. 2016 Mar;132:3-12.

Section 8: Use plain language

  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 2009.  Health Literacy Australia. 4102.0 – Australian Social Trends. ABS. Accessed Dec 2017, from:

Section 11: The role of family and friends

  1. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality [AHRQ]. 2015. Health Literacy Universal Precautions Toolkit, 2nd Edition. Accessed Dec 2017
  2. Amalraj, S., Starkweather, C., Nguyen, C., Naeim, A. 2009. Health literacy, communication, and treatment decision-making in older cancer persons. 23(4), 369-375.
  3. Labrecque, M., Blanchard, C., Ruckdeschel, J., Blanchard, E. 1991.The impact of family presence on the physician-cancer person interaction. Social Science & Medicine. 33(11), 1253-1261.
  4. Beisecker, A. 1989. The Influence of a Companion on the Doctor-Elderly Person Interaction. Health Communication. 1(1), 55.

Section 12: Close the loop

  1. Schillinger, D., Piette, J., Grumbach, K., Wang, F., Wilson, C., Daher, C., Keong-Grotz, K., Castro, C., Bindman, A.B. (2003).
    Closing the loop. Archives of Internal Medicine, 163, 83-90.