The document discusses improving the readability of patient information materials in dental practices. It provides background on readability indices and assessments. It recommends testing practice websites and printed materials using tools like the SMOG calculator and Plain English Campaign standards. Evaluating readability can help ensure patients clearly understand important health information.

1. 16 Practice Management United Kingdom Edition November 12 - 18, 2012
Why improving your practice is a
mystery – part 12 straight to www.standards-
schmandards.com/exhibits/
rix/index.php
piece of text is. Note that the
American grade system is like
the British school year system,
but our year 1 is their Kin-
Jacqui Goss highlights the importance of readability Now copy and paste some dergarten, our year 2 is their
text (a few hundred words at grade 1 and so on.
least) from your website into
H
ave you got a couple you’ve decided to read this. On your computer use a the box and click the ‘Calcu- There are many different
of minutes? Well ob- Anyway, have a go at this and search engine to find a read- late score’ button. You will get readability indices with in-
viously you have as then continue reading. ability index. Alternatively, go a score for how readable the teresting names such as the
Flesch-Kincaid readability
test, the Coleman-Liau Index,
the Gunning Fog Index and
the Fry Readability Formula
(developed by Edward Fry not
Stephen!). They each calculate
readability in different ways
using criteria such as the aver-
age number of sentences and/
or syllables and/or characters
per so many words.
Of particular interest to us
is the SMOG (Simple Measure
of Gobbledygook) grade as it is
widely used for checking health
messages – to estimate the
years of education needed to
understand a piece of writing. A
study into the readability of on-
line Parkinson’s disease infor-
mation by PR Fitzsimmons et al
published in the Journal of the
Royal College of Physicians of
Edinburgh (issue 40 pages 292-
6) concluded: ‘Simple Measure
Of Gobbledygook should be the
preferred measure of webpage
readability.’
The only UK study into pa-
tient information that I’ve been
able to find was reported as a
research abstract in the Brit-
ish Dental Journal 201 (22 July
2006). It was undertaken to
assess the quality of a range
of patient information leaflets
produced by the British Dental
NEW !
Association. Readability was
assessed using Flesch-Kincaid
and SMOG. Quality was as-
For a look that’s hard to beat.
sessed using DISCERN – a
quality criteria instrument for
consumer health information
The new Luxatemp Star.
developed at the University of
Oxford and funded by the NHS
Executive Research and Devel-
opment Programme.
Stunningly beautiful temporaries with proven durability: One of the findings was that
‘All leaflets scored quite well for
The new Luxatemp Star offers outstanding results for excellent stability, maximum fit and reliable long-term readability’. However, ‘…most
break resistance and flexural strength! The newest genera- color stability. No wonder experts recommend it. leaflets scored poorly in setting
tion of DMG’s top material Luxatemp scores even better: Find out more at www.dmg-dental.com out clear aims in the opening
paragraph, in identifying sourc-
es and dates of information pro-
vided, and other sources of ad-
vice and support available.’
Okay, enough of the back-
ground. Let’s get down to prac-
ticalities and look at some of
the ways you can ensure that
the information you give pa-
tients is of high quality and
suitability. Start with some-
thing easy – test the readability
of your website. I suggest us-
ing the one run by the National
Institute of Adult Continuing
AZM_LxStar_DE_2012.indd 1 27.03.12 17:15

2. United Kingdom Edition November 12-18, 2012 Practice Management 17
Education (NIACE) which can and accessibility but if you have did an analysis of editorials us- the NIACE website gave a re- note the differences. DT
be found here: www.niace.org. any doubts, run them through ing SMOG and found average sult of 16.9.
uk/misc/smog-calculator/ one of the tests mentioned above. scores (in terms of years of
About the author
smogcalc.php From this same education needed for compre- Finally, when looking up
site there’s a link to a very use- I also wonder whether good hension) as follows: information on HealthWatch – Jacqui Goss. A proven man-
ful document called Readability readability and accessibility the new consumer ‘champion’ ager of change and driver of
dramatic business growth, Jac-
which you can download for should influence the choice The Sun – under 14 for health and social care in
qui Goss is the managing part-
free. It will help you interpret of magazines and newspa- The Daily Express – under 16 England – I was interested to ner of Yes!RESULTS. By using
the SMOG results and produce pers you put in the patients’ The Telegraph – over 17 discover (on www.cqc.org.uk) Yes!RESULTS dental practices
easily read print material too. lounge. Unfortunately, I’ve not The Guardian – over 17 two versions of a document see an increase in treatment plan
been able to find any analyses Preparing for HealthWatch: take-up, improved patient satis-
faction and more appointments
You can use an Internet of magazines and only limited As a comparison, input- CQC’s plan to set up Health-
resulting from general enquiries.
search engine to find other read- information for newspapers. ting the first three paragraphs Watch England. One was ‘nor- Yes!RESULTS turns good practices
ability test tools for your website. The National Institute of Adult of this article into the same mal’ and the other was ‘Easy to into great practices.
You should also consider how Continuing Education (NIACE) SMOG calculator accessed via read’. Have a look at them and
accessible your website is. Much
information can be found on the
Accessibility section of the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
website: www.w3.org Some of
the suggested tools are probably
æ-motion
best used by your website devel-
oper as they are quite ‘techy’.
Recognising this, British
Standard 8878:2010 Web Ac-
Create
with G-ænial from GC
cessibility: Code of Practice (BS
8878 for short) was developed
and published in December 2010
to help non-technical people op-
timise the accessibility of their
websites. The standard is avail- The all-round composite for aesthetically invisible single and
able to purchase from the BSI
shop (shop.bsigroup.com) for multi shade restorations.
£100, although there’s lots of free
information about it here: shop.
Introducing the age-specific shade selection system.
bsigroup.com
The Scottish Accessible Infor-
mation Forum (www.saifscot-
land.org.uk) is another source
of useful information.
Now look at the patient in-
formation leaflets you’ve pro-
duced in-house – such as your
patient welcome pack. As well
as applying the readability tests,
I suggest you download the free With G-ænial you can reinforce
PiF Guide to Appraising Health your aesthetic skills and ability
Information from the Patient In-
formation Forum website www.
to match every restoration with
pifonline.org.uk nature thanks to the straightforward
shading system. The choice of the
Take a look also at the Plain
English Campaign website enamel shades is made according
(www.plainenglish.co.uk) to the age of the patient:
which has a number of free
guides, including one entitled
How to write medical informa- • JE - Junior Enamel for youngsters
tion in plain English. It also has
grammar guides on various sub- • AE - Adult Enamel for adults
jects such as punctuating sen-
• SE - Senior Enamel for your senior patients
tences.
You may wish to apply for a
Plain English Campaign Crystal
Selecting the right shades has never been easier!
Mark – a seal of approval for the
clarity of a document. You could
be one of the first dental prac-
tices to join a list of health or-
ganisations with Crystal Marks
that includes the British Dental
Association and the General
Dental Council. There is also an
GC EUROPE N.V.
Internet Crystal Mark for web-
Head Office
sites. An example of a website Tel. +32.16.74.10.00
with a Crystal Mark is that of the info@gceurope.com
Health & Care Professions Coun- http://www.gceurope.com
cil (www.hpc-uk.org).
GC UNITED KINGDOM Ltd.
Tel. +44.1908.218.999
Next, examine the leaflets info@uk.gceurope.com
from commercial organisations http://uk.gceurope.com
that you make available to your
patients. By now you should be
getting a feel for good readability