Social media is playing a major role in the healthcare
industry to maintain communication between the healthcare and non-Healthcare professionals (HCPs). Previously HCPs used social network sitesonly from
the computer-based platforms, but now these networks can be accessed through
the mobile devices as well. HCPs and pharmaceutical companies are widely using
these social websites for having conversations related to treatment plans and clinical
trial results. Tracking digital behaviors of HCPs enables the healthcare market
to know opinionsof HCPs and plan out the effective outreach strategies.
Patient education material (PEM) is a key for improving health literacy skill in field of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.
Han A
and team conducted a study to evaluate whether the patient education
materials (PEM) in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) meets the NIH-recommended eighth-grade reading
level. It also comparedthe PM&RPEM with handouts from American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and American
Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), which are the previously analyzed patient
accessible resources for sports and rehabilitation medicine.
It
was a comparative cross-sectional
study, which included the websites of professional
PM&R societies, AAOS and AAFP for entriesin the patient education section. The
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Simplified Measure of Gobbledygook (SMOG)
formulas were used to assess the readability.
The
study identified 167 online PM&R resources, which were compared with94 articles
from AAOS and 65 from AAFP. PM&R and AAOS had Mean SMOG and FKGL
scoresexceeding the eighth-grade reading level, but AAFP met the readability
levels. SMOG and FKGL levels showed higher reading difficulty for PM&R
compared to AAOS and AAFP.
The study concluded that the PEM in PM&R has exceededNIH-recommended averageeighth-grade readability levels. The physiatry community can make more comprehensible and accessible for patient education material by providing the resource at more appropriate reading level.
Reference:
Han A, Carayannopoulos AG. Readability of Patient Education Materials in
Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation (PM&R): A Comparative Cross-Sectional Study.PM R. 2019 Jul
30.
