Patients are increasingly accessing their medical records and radiology reports through online patient portals, and the researchers noticed that they would sometimes receive emails from patients who were concerned about something in their report, according to Dr. Paul Yi of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
"It became clear to us that although radiology reports have traditionally been meant for other healthcare providers, patients were becoming a de facto consumer of the reports," Yi told AuntMinnie.com. "Given this new phenomenon, we wanted to evaluate whether these reports would be written at a level appropriate for patients, given the relatively low average reading ability of an adult in the U.S. (eighth-grade level)."
They found -- perhaps unsurprisingly, given the complexity of the anatomy and findings often present in these exams -- that head CT and brain MRI reports are written at a level too high for the average patient. This means that patients likely are often unable to adequately understand their reports, creating the potential for confusion and unnecessary anxiety, Yi said.
"This is an area to address, either through keeping in mind the patient perspective when dictating a radiology report or by creating an alternative radiology report for a patient, such as a [layperson's] translation," he said. "Unless we, as radiologists, take the lead on shepherding our patients in their understanding of their radiology reports, there will continue to be confusion and unwarranted anxiety, which could threaten public trust in physicians."
What else did they find? Stop by this poster presentation to get all the details.
