Best practices on patient education materials in hip surgery based on learnings from major hip centers and societies

Patient education is important as it gives patients a better understanding of the risks and benefits of medical and surgical interventions. Developing communication technologies have completely changed and enhanced patient access to medical information. The aim of this study was to evaluate available patient education materials (PEMs) regarding hip surgery on the websites of major hip societies and centers. The PEM from 11 selected leading hip centers and societies were evaluated with the following assessment tools: Flesch-Kincaid (FK) readability test, Flesch Reading Ease formula, Literature-Intelligence-Data-Analysis (LIDA) instrument and Discernibility Interpretability Sources Comprehensive Evidence Relevance Noticeable (DISCERN) tool. Videos were assessed using Patient Educational Video Assessment Tool (PEVAT). A total of 69 educational items, including 52 text articles (75.4%) and 17 videos (24.6%) were retrieved and evaluated. The median Interquartile Range (IQR) FK level of 52 text articles was 10.8 (2.2). The median (IQR) LIDA score of text articles by center was 45. According to the LIDA score, 60% of all website articles demonstrated high accessibility (LIDA score > 44). The median DISCERN score of text articles by center was 69. Overall, 52 (100%) of the text articles were deemed to be at 'good' quality rating or higher, and 23.2% (16 out of 69) of the articles had excellent quality. The mean PEVAT score for the 17 videos was 25 ± 1.9. Analysis of text and video articles from the 11 leading orthopedic surgery centers and societies demonstrated that by selecting a reliable source of information from main scientific societies and major centers in hip surgery, patients can find more accurate information regarding their hip conditions.