Patients’ understanding of their radiology exams is an important aspect of their healthcare journey, but not all have a thorough grasp of the reasons for (or results of) these exams. A new paper looks at why.
Published in Skeletal Radiology, the paper analyzes a number of factors that influence how well patients understand radiology information presented to them, including reading level of the materials and patients' educational attainment levels, among others. Through this, experts found that females and individuals with college degrees are more likely to have a solid, objective understanding of documents on radiology exams.
This should be considered when compiling patient materials relative to radiology, as a lack of comprehension contributes to poor health literacy, corresponding author of the paper Amissa Brewer-Hofmann, with New York Presbyterian Hospital, and colleagues explained.
“Low health literacy is the reason why many Americans do not feel that they have agency over their healthcare,” the group wrote. “Medical jargon is difficult to understand and often alienates patients from feeling involved in medical decision-making. This lack of understanding can lead to mistrust of healthcare professionals and decreased utilization of healthcare services.”
The authors noted that the American Medical Association (AMA) and National Institute of Health (NIH) both recommend that medical materials intended for patients should be written below a seventh grade reading level because data indicate that the majority of Americans read at or below an eighth grade level.
However, in this most recent work, experts found that patient reading level did not significantly impact their understanding of the materials presented to them before their examination.
This finding is based on the researchers’ assessment of 100 patients who were given documents on nine different radiology tests to review prior to their exam. The documents were presented in three different versions—low (below 7th grade), middle (8–12th grade) and high (college) reading grades.
Based on patient assessments after reviewing the materials, females were more likely than males to read the entire document (85% vs. 66%); females were also more likely to have a higher objective understanding of the materials, as were patients with college degrees. Document grade level did not impact reader understanding.
“While we did not find a difference in understanding based on the reading level of our documents, it is important to acknowledge that information on radiology examinations are not representative of all different types of health information,” the authors noted, adding that their small sample size (and their demographics) likely contribute to this unexpected finding.
To that note, the team suggested that reading levels continue to be considered when offering patients medical material to review, and that materials could potentially be presented in two different ways—one in a lower reading level and one that is more advanced.
The team noted that their findings indicate that patient demographics and populations also need to be considered when creating these materials.
The detailed study is available here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.