Readability of Online Patient Education Materials for Interventional Pain Procedures

被引：4

作者：

Kamath, Dilip ^{[1
]}

Mcintyre, Sean ^{[2
]}

Peskin, Evan ^{[1
]}

Stratman, Scott ^{[3
]}

Agarwal, Nitin ^{[4
]}

Kamath, Preetha D. ^{[5
]}

Gupta, Raghav ^{[6
]}

Schwartz, Ruben ^{[7
]}

Abd-Elsayed, Alaa ^{[8
]}

Urits, Ivan ^{[9
]}

Viswanath, Omar ^{[10
]}

Kaye, Alan D. ^{[11
]}

Horn, Danielle B. ^{[12
]}

机构：

[1] Jackson Mem Hosp, Anesthesiol, Miami, FL 33136 USA

[2] Florida Int Univ, Herbert Werthe Coll Med, Anesthesiol, Miami, FL 33199 USA

[3] Univ Miami, Anesthesiol, Miami, FL USA

[4] Univ Pittsburgh, Neurosurg, Pittsburgh, PA USA

[5] Univ Miami, Miller Sch Med, Dermatol, Miami, FL 33136 USA

[6] Rutgers State Univ, Neurosurg, Newark, NJ USA

[7] Mt Sinai Med Ctr Florida, Anesthesiol, Miami, FL 33136 USA

[8] Univ Wisconsin, Anesthesiol & Pain Management, Madison, WI USA

[9] Harvard Med Sch, Beth Israel Deaconess Med Ctr, Anesthesia Crit Care & Pain Med, Boston, MA 02115 USA

[10] Valley Pain Consultants Envis Phys Serv, Pain Management, Phoenix, AZ USA

[11] Louisiana State Univ, Hlth Sci Ctr, Anesthesiol, Shreveport, LA 71105 USA

[12] Jackson Mem Hosp, Pain Management, Miami, FL 33136 USA

来源：

CUREUS JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCE | 2020年 / 12卷 / 09期

关键词：

readability; HEALTH LITERACY;

D O I：

10.7759/cureus.10684

中图分类号：

R5 [内科学];

学科分类号：

1002 ; 100201 ;

摘要：

Background The internet has had an enormous influence on the field of medicine. In this regard, Statista, a market and consumer data company, estimated in 2019 that more than half the world's population (>four billion people) were active internet users. Accessing the World Wide Web has become the second nature for most. In the medical field, many patients look to the internet for information regarding certain procedures. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to assess the readability level of more than 492 online sources with information on a wide array of interventional pain procedures. Objective The aim is to determine the readability of online patient educational materials for interventional pain procedures. Study design This is a retrospective review. Methods We downloaded and reformatted to plain text 492 internet-based patient educational materials for 17 different interventional pain procedures. Plain text was processed using Readability Studio (Oleander Software Ltd., Vandalia, Ohio, USA), which employs 10 quantitative readability scales that are widely used and accepted in the medical literature. Results The software determined the average reading level (or grade level) of the 492 online sources we examined to be 12.1, with a range of 10.9 to 13. Limitations Google is not the only online search engine patients utilize for information, and the top links for each search could change over time. Also, some patients prefer videos rather than text to learn about their disease and treatment options. Finally, depending on their provider, the links that patients are directed to may be significantly more or less readable. Conclusions The average American adult reads at the eighth grade level. The National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association have recommended education materials be made available at the third to seventh grade level. Our analysis shows patient educational materials found online for interventional pain procedures to be overly technical, with an average reading level (or grade level) of 12.1.

引用

页数：4

共 6 条

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