Prabhu Arpan V, Kim Christopher, Crihalmeanu Tudor, Hansberry David R, Agarwal Nitin, DeFrances Marie C, Trejo Bittar Humberto E
Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States.
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103, United States.
Hum Pathol. 2017 Jul;65:15-20. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2017.04.020. Epub 2017 May 10.
Information for patients regarding their clinical conditions and treatment options is widely available online. The American Medical Association and National Institutes of Health recommend that online patient-oriented materials be written at no higher than a seventh-grade reading level to ensure full comprehension by the average American. This study sought to determine whether online patient-oriented materials explaining common pathology procedures are written at appropriate reading levels. Ten pathology procedures that patients would likely research were queried into Google search, and plain text from the first 10 Web sites containing patient education materials for each procedure was analyzed using 10 validated readability scales. We determined mean reading levels of materials grouped by readability scale, procedure, and Web site domain, the overall average reading level of all resources, and popular Web site domains. One hundred Web sites were accessed; one was omitted for short length (<100 words). The average reading grade level of the 99 materials, none of which met national health literacy guidelines (range, 7.3-17.4), was 10.9. Twenty-nine articles (29%) required a high school education for full comprehension, and 4 (4%) required an undergraduate college education. Most frequently accessed Web site domains included medlineplus.gov, webmd.com (both accessed 7 times), and labtestsonline.org (accessed 6 times). Average reading levels of the 11 most commonly accessed Web sites ranged from 8.25 (patient.info) to 12.25 (mayoclinic.org). Readability levels of most online pathology-related patient education materials exceeded those recommended by national health literacy guidelines. These patient education materials should be revised to help patients fully understand them.
有关患者临床状况和治疗选择的信息在网上随处可得。美国医学协会和美国国立卫生研究院建议，面向患者的在线资料应以不高于七年级的阅读水平编写，以确保普通美国人能够完全理解。本研究旨在确定解释常见病理程序的面向患者的在线资料是否以适当的阅读水平编写。在谷歌搜索中查询了患者可能会搜索的10种病理程序，并使用10种经过验证的可读性量表分析了每个程序的前10个包含患者教育资料的网站的纯文本。我们确定了按可读性量表、程序和网站域名分组的资料的平均阅读水平、所有资源的总体平均阅读水平以及热门网站域名。共访问了100个网站；其中一个因篇幅过短（<100字）而被排除。99份资料的平均阅读年级水平为10.9，没有一份符合国家健康素养指南（范围为7.3 - 17.4）。29篇文章（29%）需要高中教育才能完全理解，4篇（4%）需要大学本科教育。访问最频繁的网站域名包括medlineplus.gov、webmd.com（均被访问7次）和labtestsonline.org（被访问6次）。11个最常访问的网站的平均阅读水平从8.25（patient.info）到12.25（mayoclinic.org）不等。大多数在线病理相关患者教育资料的可读性水平超过了国家健康素养指南的建议。这些患者教育资料应进行修订，以帮助患者充分理解。
