Michael Anthony Fajardo|Kristie Rebecca Weir|Carissa Bonner|Danijela Gnjidic|Jesse Jansen
Availability and readability of patient education materials for deprescribing: An environmental scan
University of Sydney|University of Sydney|University of Sydney|University of Sydney|University of Sydney
identify evaluate content readability freely available online deprescribing patient education materials pemssystematic review pems using medline embase cinahl psycinfo cochrane library systematic reviews inception 25 september 2017 identify pems additionally deprescribing researchers health professionals surveyed identify additional materials known repositories materials searched followed systematic google search 2228 january 2018 materials evaluated using approach informed patient education material assessment tool international patient decision aids standards inventory readability textbased materials assessed using usbased gunningfog index fleschkincaid grade levelfortyeight pems identified pems addressing deprescribing medications symptom control 81 common preventative medications rarely addressed material 39 focused older people 37 pems provided information potential benefits eg reducing risk side effects harms eg withdrawal symptoms increased risk disease deprescribing 40 focussed benefits readability indices indicated average minimum reading level grade 12 option grids decision aids mean reading level grade 10 suitable people average literacy levelsover 13 deprescribing pems present potential benefits harms deprescribing indicating freely available materials balanced pems pitched average reading levels making inaccessible low health literacy populations