Literacy Demands and Formatting Characteristics of Opioid Contracts in Chronic Nonmalignant Pain Management

Pain Management with Opioid Analgesics

“…A study of 162 English-language OTAs, submitted to researchers by current APS members, found that the mean readability was at grade level 13.8, average text point size was 11.0, active voice was used exclusively in 48.8%, and that most written agreements contained not only sophisticated medical language, but multisyllable, nonmedical terms and vocabulary not used in typical everyday conversation. 240 This study indicates that there is a mismatch between the reading demands of most OTAs and the actual health literacy skills of adults. 240 Those developing OTAs should be cognizant of the actual literacy abilities of their patient population and thereby design and evaluate OTAs accordingly.…”

“…240 This study indicates that there is a mismatch between the reading demands of most OTAs and the actual health literacy skills of adults. 240 Those developing OTAs should be cognizant of the actual literacy abilities of their patient population and thereby design and evaluate OTAs accordingly.…”

Reading Demands of Commercial Patient Educational Materials

“…Unfortunately, these results mirror other studies regarding excessively difficult reading grade levels of patient education materials. [4][5][6][7]14,15,[18][19][20][21][22] Therefore, medical librarians must be cognizant of the shortcomings of commercially produced patient education materials and select materials with caution.…”

“…While the literacy demands of instructions accompanying over-the-counter and prescription medications, medical devices, and informed consent documents have been described previously, to the authors' knowledge no studies have examined the literacy demands of commercially produced patient education materials. 5,14,15 To address this gap in the literature, the purpose of this study was to estimate the reading grade level of a sample of commercially produced patient education materials produced by ADAM, MD Consult (Patient Education subset), and Micromedex Care Notes. This study is important because these materials are routinely presented to patients upon discharge from the hospital, during office visits, and as part of health information services provided by medical librarians.…”

Literacy as the Foundation of Patient Responsibility

“…1 In a second paper, the authors reported on their efforts to develop a literacy-sensitive opioid contract for use with patients treated for chronic pain. 2 They describe the process of identifying contract content, reforming that content into short, readable, and complete sentences, using a font size Ն12 point, evaluation of the contract against established literacy standards, and then pilot testing to assess patient comprehension of contract content.…”