title: Can Patients Comprehend the Educational Materials that Hospitals Provide about Common IR Procedures?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the readability of online education materials offered by hospitals describing commonly performed interventional radiology (IR) procedures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Online patient education materials from 402 hospitals selected from the Medicare Hospital Compare database were assessed. The presence of an IR service was determined by representation in the Society of Interventional Radiology physician finder directory. Patient online education materials about (i) uterine artery embolization for fibroid tumors, (ii) liver cancer embolization, (iii) varicose vein treatment, (iv) central venous access, (v) inferior vena cava (IVC) filter placement, (vi) nephrostomy tube insertion, (vii) gastrostomy tube placement, and (viii) vertebral augmentation were targeted and assessed by using six validated readability scoring systems.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 402 hospitals sampled, 156 (39%) were presumed to offer IR services. Of these, 119 (76%) offered online patient education material for one or more of the eight service lines. The average readability scores corresponding to grade varied between the ninth- and 12th-grade levels. All were higher than the recommended seventh-grade level (P < .05) except for nephrostomy and gastrostomy tube placement. Average Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease scores ranged from 42 to 69, corresponding with fairly difficult to difficult readability for all service lines except IVC filter and gastrostomy tube placement, which corresponded with standard readability.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A majority of hospitals offering IR services provide at least some online patient education material. Most, however, are written significantly above the reading comprehension level of most Americans. More attention to health literacy by hospitals and IR physicians is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Rd., Room 125 D, Atlanta, GA 30322.. Electronic address: gsadigh@emory.edu.
authors.forename: Gelareh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sadigh
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Rd., Room 125 D, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: C Matthew
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Hawkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Rd., Room 125 D, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: O'Keefe
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Rd., Room 125 D, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Ramsha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, 1364 Clifton Rd., Room 125 D, Atlanta, GA 30322.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duszak
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D057220:Health Literacy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020407:Internet; D009862:Online Systems; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015641:Radiography, Interventional / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015642:Radiology, Interventional / Q000193:education*; D011932:Reading; D014481:United States