Readability of Patient Education Materials in Hand Surgery and Health Literacy Best Practices for Improvement.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to update a portion of a 2008 study of patient education materials from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Web site with new readability results, to compare the results to health literacy best practices, and to make recommendations to the field for improvement.


METHODS
A sample of 77 patient education documents were downloaded from the American Society for Surgery of the Hand Web site, handcare.org, and assessed for readability using 4 readability tools. Mean readability grade-level scores were derived. Best practices for plain language for written health materials were compiled from 3 government agency sources.


RESULTS
The mean readability of the 77 patient education documents in the study was 9.3 grade level. This reading level is reduced from the previous study in 2008 in which the overall mean was 10.6; however, the current sample grade level still exceeds recommended readability according to best practices.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite a small body of literature on the readability of patient education materials related to hand surgery and other orthopedic issues over the last 7 years, readability was not dramatically improved in our current sample. Using health literacy as a framework, improvements in hand surgery patient education may result in better understanding and better outcomes for patients seeing hand surgeons.


CONCLUSIONS
Improved understanding of patient education materials related to hand surgery may improve preventable negative outcomes that are clinically significant as well as contribute to improved quality of life for patients.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR. Electronic address: khadden@uams.edu.
Kristie
K
Hadden
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
Latrina Y
LY
Prince
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
Asa
A
Schnaekel
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
Cory G
CG
Couch
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
John M
JM
Stephenson
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR.
Theresa O
TO
Wyrick
D015331:Cohort Studies; D032882:Comprehension; D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006225:Hand / Q000601:surgery*; D057220:Health Literacy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D058996:Quality Improvement; D012955:Societies, Medical; D013664:Teaching Materials / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States
Health literacy; hand surgery; patient education; readability