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AUA 2019

AUA 2019: Readability of Patient Education Materials on Pelvic Organ Prolapse, Overactive Bladder, and Stress Urinary Incontinence

Chicago, IL (UroToday.com) This session included several studies that evaluate the patient experience in the treatment of pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and other pelvic floor disorders. Patient education is of the utmost importance in the care of these patients and physicians routinely use online handouts and other patient education materials from professional societies such as the AUA, IUGA, and SUFU. The American Medical Association recommends that patient education materials (PEM) be written at a 7th grade level, and the Joint Commission recommends they be written at the 5th grade level. In this study, the authors aimed to evaluate the readability of commonly-used, downloadable PEMs regarding POP, stress urinary incontinence (SUI), and overactive bladder (OAB).

The authors evaluated PEMs written in English from AUGS, AUA, SUFU, ICS, IUGA, ACOG, and NAFC. Four different validated measures were used to evaluate the readability of each PEM. Each PEM item was assessed separately, and a mean readability level was assigned based on grade level. An average readability score was then assessed by topic, including POP, OAB, and SUI.

The PEMs assessed included 7 for POP, 8 for OAB, and 7 for SUI. The PEMs for POP showed the highest mean grade level, at 12.31 (SD 1.89), out of all that were evaluated. OAB PEMs had a lower mean grade level at 9.37 (SD 2.99), and SUI PEMs had a grade level 11.53 (SD 2.54). The only PEMs written at or below the 7th grade level, as recommended by the AMA, were those from SUFU regarding OAB. These included SUFUs Roadmap for Overactive Bladder Clinical Care Pathway and Changes You Can Make to Improve Bladder Problems. None of the PEMs were written at or below the 5th grade level as recommended by the Joint Commission.

Overall, this study highlights an important issue in patient education and care. PEMs on POP, in particular, are written above the 10th grade level. Patients often have difficulty remembering and recalling information given to them by physicians. In addition, with the increasing pressure to see more patients, physicians are limited in the amount of face to face education that can be provided, and many rely on handouts such as these to supplement these discussions. Without appropriately-written PEMs, patients may not be able to understand their conditions, and this could lead to confusion about, or disappointment in, their care. Future development of PEMs for POP, OAB, and SUI by national specialty societies should focus on improved readability for patients.


AUA2019_PEMs_on_POPv2.jpg


Presented by: Chris Du, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York, United States

Written by: Dena Moskowitz, MD, Assistant Professor of Clinical Urology, University of California Irvine; @demoskowitz at the American Urological Association's 2019 Annual Meeting (AUA 2019), May 3 – 6, 2019 in Chicago, Illinois