Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA; Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Health Services Research and Development Center of Innovation, Houston, USA.
Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA.
Patient Educ Couns. 2018 May;101(5):917-925. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2017.12.004. Epub 2017 Dec 12.
Patient education materials are a crucial part of physician-patient communication. We hypothesize that available discharge instructions are difficult to read and fail to address necessary topics. Our objective is to evaluate readability and content of surgical discharge instructions using thyroidectomy to develop standardized discharge materials.
Thyroidectomy discharge materials were analyzed for readability and assessed for content. Fifteen endocrine surgeons participated in a modified Delphi consensus panel to select necessary topics. Using readability best practices, we created standardized discharge instructions which included all selected topics.
The panel evaluated 40 topics, selected 23, deemed 4 inappropriate, consolidated 5, and did not reach consensus on 8 topics after 4 rounds. The evaluated instructions' reading levels ranged from grade 6.5 to 13.2; none contained all consensus topics.
Current post surgical thyroidectomy discharge instructions are more difficult to read than recommended by literacy standards and omit consensus warning signs of major complications. Our easy-to-read discharge instructions cover pertinent topics and may enhance patient education. Delphi methodology is useful for developing post-surgical instructions.
Patient education materials need appropriate readability levels and content. We recommend the Delphi method to select content using consensus expert opinion whenever higher level data is lacking.
患者教育材料是医患沟通的重要组成部分。我们假设现有的出院指导难以阅读，并且未能涵盖必要的主题。我们的目标是使用甲状腺切除术评估手术出院指导的可读性和内容，以制定标准化的出院材料。
对甲状腺切除术出院材料进行可读性分析，并评估其内容。15 名内分泌外科医生参与了改良 Delphi 共识小组，以选择必要的主题。我们使用可读性最佳实践，创建了包含所有选定主题的标准化出院指导。
小组评估了 40 个主题，选择了 23 个，认为 4 个不合适，合并了 5 个，在 4 轮后仍未就 8 个主题达成共识。评估的指导说明的阅读水平从 6.5 年级到 13.2 年级不等；没有一个包含所有共识主题。
目前术后甲状腺切除术出院指导的阅读难度超过了读写能力标准的建议，并且遗漏了主要并发症的共识警告信号。我们的通俗易懂的出院指导涵盖了相关主题，可能会增强患者教育。德尔菲方法对于使用共识专家意见选择内容以制定术后指导很有用。
患者教育材料需要适当的可读性水平和内容。我们建议在缺乏更高水平数据的情况下，使用 Delphi 方法选择内容。
