1 Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 601 N Caroline St, Baltimore, MD 21287.
2 University of Wisconsin School of Medicine, Madison, WI.
AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2019 Mar;212(3):602-606. doi: 10.2214/AJR.18.20197. Epub 2019 Jan 8.
Radiology reports have traditionally been written for referring clinical providers. However, as patients increasingly access their radiology reports through online medical records, concerns have been raised about their ability to comprehend these complex documents. The purpose of this study was to assess the readability of lumbar spine MRI reports.
We reviewed 110 lumbar spine MRI reports dictated by 11 fellowship-trained radiologists (eight musculoskeletal radiologists and three neuroradiologists) at a single academic medical center. We evaluated each article for readability using five quantitative readability tests: the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, Flesch Reading Ease, Gunning Fog Index, Coleman-Liau Index, and the Simple Measure of Gobbledygook. The number of reports with readability at or below eighth-grade level (average reading ability of U.S. adults) and at or below sixth-grade level (level recommended by the National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association for patient education materials) were determined.
The mean readability grade level of the lumbar spine MRI reports was greater than the 12th-grade reading level for all readability scales. Only one report was written at or below eighth-grade level; no reports were written at or below sixth-grade level.
Lumbar spine MRI reports are written at a level too high for the average patient to comprehend. As patients increasingly read their radiology reports through online portals, consideration should be made of patients' ability to read and comprehend these complex medical documents.
放射学报告传统上是为转诊临床医生编写的。然而，随着患者越来越多地通过在线病历查阅放射学报告，人们对他们理解这些复杂文件的能力提出了担忧。本研究的目的是评估腰椎磁共振成像报告的可读性。
我们回顾了一家学术医疗中心的 11 名经过 fellowship培训的放射科医生（8 名肌肉骨骼放射科医生和 3 名神经放射科医生）口述的 110 份腰椎磁共振成像报告。我们使用五种定量可读性测试来评估每篇文章的可读性：Flesch-Kincaid 年级水平、Flesch 阅读舒适度、Gunning Fog 指数、Coleman-Liau 指数和简单测量乱语指数。确定可读性达到或低于八年级（美国成年人的平均阅读能力）和达到或低于六年级（美国国立卫生研究院和美国医学协会推荐的患者教育材料的水平）的报告数量。
所有可读性量表的腰椎磁共振成像报告平均可读性年级水平均高于 12 年级阅读水平。只有一份报告的可读性达到或低于八年级；没有报告的可读性达到或低于六年级。
腰椎磁共振成像报告的编写水平对于普通患者来说太高，难以理解。随着患者越来越多地通过在线门户阅读他们的放射学报告，应该考虑患者阅读和理解这些复杂医学文件的能力。
