Readability of Spine-Related Patient Education Materials From Subspecialty Organization and Spine Practitioner Websites

• DOI: 10.1097/brs.0b013e3181b4bb0c
• Publication Date: 2009-11-22T08:18:55Z
• Authors: Michael Vives; Lyle Young; Sanjeev Sabharwal
• Keywords: Grade level; Subspecialty; Patient Education

Analysis of spine-related websites available to the general public.To assess readability patient educational materials on professional society and individual surgeon or practice based websites.The Internet has become a valuable source education material. A significant percentage patients, however, find this information confusing. Healthcare experts recommend that material be less than sixth grade level. The Flesch-Kincaid level is most widely used method evaluate score textual material, with lower scores suggesting easier readability.We conducted an search all documents North American Spine Society (NASS), Association Neurological Surgeons (AANS), Academy Orthopaedic (AAOS), sample 10 websites. each article was calculated using Microsoft Office Word software. mean articles various individual/practice were compared.A total 121 from analyzed. All 4 categories had levels greater 10. Only 3 (2.5%) found at below level, recommended for adult patients in United States. There no differences among AAOS, NASS, AANS, practice-based web-sites (P = 0.065, ANOVA).Our findings suggest Spine-related have may too high, making comprehension difficult substantial portion States population.