This article reports the results of a prospective pre-post interventional study undertaken to determine whether providing a simplified information card to patients (in addition to discharge summaries) upon discharge from Australian emergency departments would improve patient awareness of their diagnosis and follow-up requirements. Brief interviews conducted with 112 pre-intervention study participants and 117 who received the short discharge card, indicated statistically significant improvement (73.2% to 89.7%, p<0.001) in patient awareness with the short discharge card.