Are we failing to communicate? Internet-based patient education materials and radiation safety

Can Patients Comprehend the Educational Materials that Hospitals Provide about Common IR Procedures?

“…Our results are analogous with those from other recent studies that have primarily focused on materials from radiologic professional societies and other organizations that describe image-guided procedures (8)(9)(10)(11), breast cancer screening (14), radiation safety (12), and UAE (13). Similar to the results from the present study, information provided by most national organizations and professional societies is written significantly beyond the comprehension level of average Americans.…”

“…Given that the majority of these online materials have been designed by health care professionals-many more formally schooled than the average American-it is perhaps not surprising that these materials are written at high grade levels (12). Health care workers would be wise to consult with guidelines developed by the AMA, the NIH, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how to write health care materials at a level appropriate for a general readership (6,7).…”

“…These studies demonstrated that online educational materials are well beyond the comprehension level of most patients (8)(9)(10)(11)(12).…”

“…Several recent studies (8)(9)(10)(11)(12) have evaluated the readability of radiology patient educational resources available from a variety of radiology professional societies and other national organizational Web sites. These studies demonstrated that online educational materials are well beyond the comprehension level of most patients (8)(9)(10)(11)(12).…”

Patients’ Perceptions of Radiation Exposure Associated With Mammography

“…In fact, patients often feel that they have been sufficiently educated regarding the risks and benefits of such procedures from the information they have found online [38]. However, as pointed out in a recent study by Hansberry and colleagues [39], many reputable sources of radiation information with regard to medicine fail to meet the standards of the National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association, which could leave patients more anxious about undergoing the mammogram [40].…”