Readability of Orthopaedic Patient-reported Outcome Measures: Is There a Fundamental Failure to Communicate?

• DOI: 10.1007/s11999-017-5339-0
• Publication Date: 2017-04-03T17:52:43Z
• Authors: Jorge L. Perez; Zachary A. Mosher; Shawna L. Watson; Evan D. Sheppard; Eugene W. Brabston; Gerald McGwin; Brent A. Ponce
• Keywords: Patient-reported outcome; Prom; Grade level

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are increasingly used to quantify patients' perceptions of functional ability. The American Medical Association and NIH suggest patient materials be written at or below 6th 8th grade reading levels, respectively, yet one recent study asserts that few PROMs comply with these recommendations, suggests the majority too high a level for self-administered use. Notably, this was limited in its use only readability algorithm, although there is no commonly accepted, standard algorithm healthcare-related materials. Our study, using multiple equations heeding equal weight each, hopes yield broader, all-encompassing estimate readability, thereby offering more accurate assessment orthopaedic PROMS.