Letter to the Editor: Editor's Spotlight/Take 5: Most American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' Online Patient Education Material Exceeds Average Patient Reading Level.

Abstract

W e were pleased to read your recent ‘‘Editor’s Spotlight’’ [1] in CORR. Thank you for highlighting the important roles that education and communication play in treating patients. As you show, better patient education can lead to better clinical outcomes. The problem is often the gap between what a patient hears in an office visit and what he or she ultimately understands. OrthoInfo, a patient information website from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, aims to bridge that gap. The goal of OrthoInfo is to balance content with readability. We aim to be concise, interesting and informative. New and updated articles have more illustrations to enhance the presentation. Many popular articles have been translated into Spanish to reach a broader segment of the population. By providing in-depth information, we can help a patient decide what questions to ask when visiting a doctor and also supplement the information he or she receives during that visit. By necessity, that means we have to present topics in greater detail. We are concerned about readability. As you point out, OrthoInfo readability scores have come down in the past few years. However, bringing them down much lower would require leaving out important material. Otherwise, articles at a sixth-grade level would be much longer and less attractive to many readers scrolling down a page. Flesch-Kincaid is a computer formula, nothing more. When you are writing about ‘‘pigmented villonodular synovitis,’’ ‘‘adolescent idiopathic scoliosis,’’ and ‘‘autologous chondrocyte implantation’’ it is difficult to reach a lower grade level based on that formula. One way we can clearly communicate complex information in a clear and concise manner is by utilizing our multimedia tools. The OrthoInfo (RE: Daniels AH, Leopold SS. Editor’s Spotlight/Take 5: Most American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons’ online patient education material exceeds average patient reading level. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2015;473:1177-1180). The authors certify that they, or any member of their immediate families, have no commercial associations (eg, consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/ licensing arrangements, etc) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article. All ICMJE Conflict of Interest Forms for authors and Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research editors and board members are on file with the publication and can be viewed on request. The opinions expressed are those of the writers, and do not reflect the opinion or policy of CORR or The Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons. S. J. Fischer MD OrthoInfo, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Rosemont, IL, USA