Evaluating the Understandability and Actionability of Web-Based Education Materials for Patients Taking Non–vitamin K Oral Anticoagulants

• Published in: Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science 2020-03, Vol.54 (2), p.476-483
• Main Authors: Yiu, Angela, Ng, Kingsley K., Lee, Vincent W., Bajorek, Beata V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antagonists; Anticoagulants; Check lists; Consumer information; Dental materials; Design; Drug Safety and Pharmacovigilance; Education; Evaluation; Medicine; Patient education; Pharmacotherapy; Pharmacy; Phylloquinone; Search engines; Visual aids; Vitamin K
• ISSN: 2168-4790; 2168-4804
• DOI: 10.1007/s43441-019-00079-1

Background: More patients are now taking high-risk medicines such as non–vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs). Hence, patient education materials need to be in an understandable format so that they can be empowered to act on their knowledge. Factors such as health literacy and the design of the medicine information material may influence the patient’s ability to understand and act on key information. Method: The PRISMA checklist was used to inform the study design. A structured search was conducted to obtain all freely accessible online educational resources designed for patients about the non–vitamin K antagonists (NOACs) during August 2018. Three search engines were used: Google, Yahoo! and Bing, using the search terms “NOAC” and “anticoagulant” combined with “patient/consumer information and patient/consumer resources.”We applied the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT) to evaluate web-based patient education materials in terms of understandability and actionability for patients taking NOACs. Results: Of the 35 materials included, the majority of the materials (n = 32, 91%) were rated as highly understandable (PEMAT score ≥ 70%), and more than three-quarters of all the materials (n = 29, 83%) were rated as poorly actionable (PEMAT score