Soler Wenglein Janina, Heidenreich Andreas, Friederichs Hendrik
Medical Education Research Group, Medical School OWL, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
Department of Pediatrics, Medical School and University Medical Center OWL, Protestant Hospital of the Bethel Foundation, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
BMC Med Educ. 2025 Apr 25;25(1):612. doi: 10.1186/s12909-025-07206-7.
Information literacy depends on diverse skills in processing information, including understanding graphs properly. Especially for those advising and informing people with less information, health and graph literacy, it is important to achieve high competence in these areas themselves. Graph literacy, therefore, is a form of semiotic activity that is a crucial component of overall literacy for (future) physicians. We analyzed the graph literacy of undergraduate medical students to gain knowledge about their skills and potential areas for improvement.
An observational cross-sectional survey study was performed with undergraduate medical students in their academic years 1 to 5 using the "Graph Literacy Scale." It measures the participant's ability to read and interpret graphically provided information with 13 questions in three dimensions regarding visual data: "reading the data," "reading between the data," and "reading beyond the data." Participants can score between 0 and 13 points.
We obtained 449 complete questionnaires. Undergraduate medical students showed above-average test results compared to the German standard population, with an average score of 11.42 (SD = 1.42) vs. 9.4 points (SD = 2.6) points (p <.001). Although students generally scored high, one question measuring the ability to visually "read beyond the data" yielded significantly lower scores and showed variability regarding the participants' performance compared to other questions of this category.
While abilities in visually "reading the data" and "reading between the data" are high in our cohorts, their ability to visually "read beyond the data" is inconsistent. This requires attention in the training of medical students, as weaknesses in this area could lead to susceptibility to misleading data. Enhancing graph literacy in medical students is crucial for effective physician-patient communication.
信息素养取决于处理信息的多种技能，包括正确理解图表。特别是对于那些为信息较少的人群提供建议和信息的人来说，健康素养和图表素养方面自身具备高能力很重要。因此，图表素养是一种符号学活动形式，是（未来）医生整体素养的关键组成部分。我们分析了本科医学生的图表素养，以了解他们的技能以及潜在的改进领域。
使用“图表素养量表”对本科医学生1至5年级进行了一项观察性横断面调查研究。它通过关于视觉数据的三个维度的13个问题来衡量参与者阅读和解释以图形方式提供的信息的能力：“读取数据”、“数据间读取”和“数据外读取”。参与者的得分在0到13分之间。
我们获得了449份完整问卷。与德国标准人群相比，本科医学生的测试结果高于平均水平，平均得分为11.42（标准差 = 1.42），而德国标准人群平均得分为9.4分（标准差 = 2.6）（p <.001）。尽管学生总体得分较高，但一个衡量视觉上“数据外读取”能力的问题得分明显较低，并且与该类别中的其他问题相比，参与者的表现存在差异。
虽然我们研究对象在视觉上“读取数据”和“数据间读取”的能力较高，但他们在视觉上“数据外读取”的能力并不一致。这在医学生培训中需要引起注意，因为这方面的弱点可能导致易受误导性数据的影响。提高医学生的图表素养对于有效的医患沟通至关重要。
