Quality and readability of patient information on robotic-assisted hip arthroplasty

Patients can obtain medical web information instantly, but there is no guarantee of its accuracy, reliability, or quality. The goal of this study is to critically analyze and provide a comprehensive assessment of the current state of online accessible patient information about robotic-assisted hip arthroplasty (RAHA).

The top 50 search results for 'robotic hip arthroplasty' on Google, Bing, and Yahoo were screened. After excluding from the analysis duplicate entries, advertisements, non-English websites, video platforms, and unrelated websites, 27 patient-oriented websites were included and assessed by three independent reviewers with the DISCERN instrument, Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease (FRE), Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FGL), and Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) benchmarks to evaluate the quality and readability of the selected websites.

The average DISCERN score was 45.2/80, indicating a fair level of information quality. The mean FRE score was 41.9/100, corresponding to difficult-to-read text, while the mean FGL score was 11.6, indicating that comprehension requires at least a high school education level. The average JAMA benchmark score was 0.96/4, reflecting poor adherence to established credibility and transparency criteria.

Web-based reporting on academic, private hospital, and general websites needs to be significantly improved, as evidenced by the poor quality and readability of online patient information. Due to its potential benefits over traditional hip replacement surgeries, RAHA is a novel surgery that has recently attracted a lot of attention. However, there is a chance of generating erroneous expectations, unhappy patients, and dissatisfied healthcare providers if efforts are not put forward to create consistent guidelines and collaborate on patient education strategies.