Hansberry David R, Ramchand Tekchand, Patel Shyam, Kraus Carl, Jung Jin, Agarwal Nitin, Gonzales Sharon F, Baker Stephen R
Department of Radiology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, 150 Bergen Street, Room C320, Newark, NJ 07109, United States.
Eur J Radiol. 2014 Sep;83(9):1698-702. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2014.04.013. Epub 2014 Apr 30.
Patients frequently turn to the Internet when seeking answers to healthcare related inquiries including questions about the effects of radiation when undergoing radiologic studies. We investigate the readability of online patient education materials concerning radiation safety from multiple Internet resources.
Patient education material regarding radiation safety was downloaded from 8 different websites encompassing: (1) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (2) the Environmental Protection Agency, (3) the European Society of Radiology, (4) the Food and Drug Administration, (5) the Mayo Clinic, (6) MedlinePlus, (7) the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and (8) the Society of Pediatric Radiology. From these 8 resources, a total of 45 articles were analyzed for their level of readability using 10 different readability scales.
The 45 articles had a level of readability ranging from 9.4 to the 17.2 grade level. Only 3/45 (6.7%) were written below the 10th grade level. No statistical difference was seen between the readability level of the 8 different websites.
All 45 articles from all 8 websites failed to meet the recommendations set forth by the National Institutes of Health and American Medical Association that patient education resources be written between the 3rd and 7th grade level. Rewriting the patient education resources on radiation safety from each of these 8 websites would help many consumers of healthcare information adequately comprehend such material.
患者在寻求医疗相关问题的答案时，经常会求助于互联网，其中包括有关接受放射学检查时辐射影响的问题。我们调查了来自多个互联网资源的有关辐射安全的在线患者教育材料的可读性。
从8个不同网站下载了有关辐射安全的患者教育材料，这些网站包括：（1）疾病控制与预防中心，（2）环境保护局，（3）欧洲放射学会，（4）食品药品监督管理局，（5）梅奥诊所，（6）MedlinePlus，（7）核管理委员会，以及（8）儿科放射学会。从这8个资源中，使用10种不同的可读性量表对总共45篇文章的可读性水平进行了分析。
这45篇文章的可读性水平在9.4至17.2年级之间。只有3/45（6.7%）的文章是在10年级以下水平撰写的。8个不同网站的可读性水平之间没有统计学差异。
来自所有8个网站的所有45篇文章均未达到美国国立卫生研究院和美国医学协会提出的建议，即患者教育资源应在3至7年级水平撰写。重写这8个网站中每个网站关于辐射安全的患者教育资源将有助于许多医疗信息消费者充分理解此类材料。
