Readability, Content, and Quality of Online Patient Education Materials on Anesthesia and Neurotoxicity in the Pediatric Population

Abstract

Objective Internet-based patient education materials (PEMs) are often above the recommended sixth grade reading level recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2016 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a warning statement against use of general anesthetic drugs in children and pregnant women due to concerns about neurotoxicity. The aim of this study is to evaluate readability, content, and quality of Internet-based PEMs on anesthesia in the pediatric population and neurotoxicity. Study Design The websites of U.S. medical centers with pediatric anesthesiology fellowship programs were searched for PEMs pertaining to pediatric anesthesia and neurotoxicity. Readability was assessed. PEM content was evaluated using matrices specific to pediatric anesthesia and neurotoxicity. PEM quality was assessed with the Patient Education Material Assessment Tool for Print. A one-sample t-test was used to compare the readability of the PEMs to the recommended sixth grade reading level. Results We identified 27 PEMs pertaining to pediatric anesthesia and eight to neurotoxicity. Mean readability of all PEMs was greater than a sixth grade reading (p <0.001). While only 13% of PEMs on anesthesia for pediatric patient mentioned the FDA warning, 100% of the neurotoxicity materials did. PEMs had good understandability (83%) and poor actionability (60%). Conclusion The readability, content, and quality of PEMs are poor and should be improved to help parents and guardians make informed decisions about their children's health care. Key Points

Pediatric regional anesthesiology: a narrative review and update on outcome-based advances

“…The pediatric anesthesia subspecialty has made large leaps in understanding pediatric pain and stress responses during the same decades that the regional and acute pain subspecialty has benefitted from significant advances in technique and technology. Importantly, debate continues surrounding the possibility of anesthetic-induced neurotoxicity on the developing human brain, 4,[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] making techniques that can help to minimize or reduce systemic sedation in pediatric patients appealing. Regional anesthesia (RA) has evolved from a field centered around intimate anatomic mastery requiring the correlation of surface landmarks to structures beneath to a practice in which we can use technology to literally see the structures that lie under the skin and provide tailored, precise regional analgesia and anesthesia.…”