University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2012 Nov;147(5):855-7. doi: 10.1177/0194599812456153. Epub 2012 Jul 31.
The ubiquity of the Internet has led to the widespread availability of health-related information to the public, and the subsequent empowerment of patients has fundamentally altered the patient-physician relationship. Among several concerns of physicians is the possibility that patients may be misinformed by information obtained from the Internet. One opportunity for health care providers to address this problem exists within Internet-based patient education materials (IPEMs). According to recent research in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, IPEMs found within professional otolaryngology websites are written at the 8th- to 18th-grade reading comprehension level, essentially unchanged over the past 3 years. This greatly exceeds the fourth- to sixth-grade reading level recommended by the National Institutes of Health. Benefits, strategies, and challenges to improving the readability of IPEMs are discussed.
互联网的普及使得公众能够广泛获取与健康相关的信息，而患者随后获得的信息自主权从根本上改变了医患关系。医生关注的问题之一是，患者可能会被从互联网上获取的信息误导。医疗保健提供者解决这个问题的一个机会存在于基于互联网的患者教育材料（IPEMs）中。根据最近在耳鼻喉科-头颈外科领域的研究，在专业耳鼻喉科网站中发现的 IPEMs 的阅读水平在 8 到 18 年级之间，在过去 3 年中基本没有变化。这大大超过了美国国立卫生研究院推荐的第四到第六年级阅读水平。本文讨论了提高 IPEM 可读性的益处、策略和挑战。
