Background: Hospital discharge is a complex multidisciplinary process that can lead to non-compliance and drugs-related problems. Crucial issue for children is parental knowledge of discharge treatments, especially in the time-limited and stressful environment of an emergency department (ED).

Objective: To compare parental correct knowledge of treatment with and without supply of customised drug information leaflets for the 10 most commonly prescribed drugs.

Method: Inclusion criteria: paediatric patients (0-16 years) with French-speaking parents discharged from ED of the paediatric department of Geneva University Hospitals before (phase A) and after (phase B) intervention.

Intervention: Supply and brief comment of drug information leaflets focusing on specific information not available in official drugs information documents. Follow-up Semi-structured phone interview within 72 h after discharge to evaluate the percentage of parents with correct knowledge of dose, frequency, duration and indication of drugs. Multivariate analysis to identify factors associated with correct knowledge (phases A/B, drugs collection at usual pharmacy, drugs categories).

Results: 125 patients were included (phase A: 56; phase B: 69). Drug information leaflets were given to 63/69 ED patients (91%), covering 96/138 prescribed drugs (70%). Parental knowledge was significantly improved in phase B (dose: 62.3% to 89.1%; frequency: 57.9% to 85.5%; duration: 34.2% to 66.7%; indication: 70.2% to 94.9%; p<0.0001). Phase B and collection of drugs at usual pharmacy were significant factors associated with correct knowledge.

Conclusions: Drug information leaflets significantly improved treatment knowledge of French-speaking parents after paediatric ED discharge. Leaflets are now available online for general population.