INTRODUCTION
Patient satisfaction and outcomes are impacted by an inability to understand medical jargon.1,2 Further, patients often don’t understand, or overestimate their understanding of dermatology terminology.3-5 Comprehension during Mohs surgery is important as patients are alert during the procedure and uncertainty may increase anxiety levels. Moreover, lack of comprehension may impact adherence to post-operative recommendations and worsen clinical outcomes.
METHODS
An institutional review board-approved survey was conducted to assess patient comprehension of commonly used terms during Mohs surgery. Patients 18 and older were recruited from an academic dermatology clinic to complete a brief in-person survey which assessed comprehension of 12-terms. Each term was presented in a sentence for context. Participants rated their level of confidence in understanding each term using a 5-point Likert scale and then defined the term (5 denoted as extremely confident). Three blinded physicians graded each definition using a 5-point scale (termed “accuracyâ€, 5 denoted as completely accurate). Student t-tests were used to identify associations between patient confidence and physician-graded accuracy of understanding (P<0.05 considered statistically significant). Fisher exact tests were substituted when parametric assumptions could not be verified.
RESULTS
Two-hundred respondents completed the survey (96% response rate) with an average age of 57 ± 20 years. Sixty percent were male, 90% white (3.5% black, 3% Asian, 2% Hispanic, 1.5% other) and 62% had a college degree (Table 1). The average patient confidence in Mohs terms was 3.90 ± 0.66, the average term accuracy was 3.26±0.93. Patients overestimated their knowledge (reported a confidence score higher than the physician graded accuracy score) 44% of the time. The terms patients were least confident in included secondary intention and Mohs surgery. The terms they were least accurate with included secondary intention and defect (table 2).
College educated patients were more confident (3.98 ± 0.70 vs 3.76 ± 0.70, P<0.001) and accurate (3.34 ± 0.98 vs 3.01 ± 0.91,
College educated patients were more confident (3.98 ± 0.70 vs 3.76 ± 0.70, P<0.001) and accurate (3.34 ± 0.98 vs 3.01 ± 0.91,
