Readability of discharge summaries: with what level of information are we dismissing our patients?
BACKGROUND
We assessed the health literacy of trauma discharge summaries and hypothesize that they are written at higher-than-recommended grade levels.


METHODS
The Flesch-Kincaid grade level (FKGL) and Flesch reading ease scores (FRES), 2 universally accepted scales for evaluating readability of medical information, were used.


RESULTS
A total of 497 patients were included. The mean patient age was 56 ± 22 years. Average FKGL and FRES were 10 ± 1 and 44 ± 7, including 132 summaries classified as very or fairly difficult to read. A total of 204 (65%) patients had functional reading skills at grade levels below the FKGL of their dismissal note; only 74 patients (24%) had the reading skills to adequately comprehend their dismissal summary. Total 30-day readmissions were 40, 65% of whom were patients with inadequate literacy for dismissal summary comprehension.


CONCLUSIONS
Patient discharge notes are written at too advanced of an educational level. To ensure patient comprehension, dismissal notes should be rewritten to a 6th-grade level.
['Choudhry|Asad J|AJ|', 'Baghdadi|Yaser M K|YM|', 'Wagie|Amy E|AE|', 'Habermann|Elizabeth B|EB|', 'Heller|Stephanie F|SF|', 'Jenkins|Donald H|DH|', 'Cullinane|Daniel C|DC|', 'Zielinski|Martin D|MD|']
D000328:Adult D003710:Demography D004522:Educational Status D005260:Female D057220:Health Literacy D006801:Humans D015601:Injury Severity Score D007902:Length of Stay D008297:Male D008875:Middle Aged D063886:Patient Discharge Summaries D010359:Patient Readmission D011932:Reading D012042:Registries D012189:Retrospective Studies D014947:Wounds and Injuries
Readability Health literacy Educational disparities Flesch–Kincaid grade level Trauma readmissions