{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,30]],"date-time":"2026-07-30T02:14:17Z","timestamp":1785377657603,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,6]],"date-time":"2024-02-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1707177600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/termsAndConditions#vor"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Veterinary Record"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Readability of client communications is a commonly overlooked topic in veterinary medical education. In human medicine, it has been advised that the readability of patient materials should be at USA schooling sixth\u2010grade level or below. We hypothesised that student written discharge instructions would be of an inappropriate readability level, and discharges scored with higher reading grade levels would be associated with more complications.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The cohort comprised 149 dogs and cats presenting for sterilisation. The readability of discharge instructions was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) and Flesch\u2013Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) formulas. Records were examined for evidence of postoperative complications.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      The mean FRE score of the discharge instructions was 61.97, with 30.87% being classified as \u2018difficult\u2019 or \u2018fairly difficult\u2019, 60.4% as \u2018standard\u2019 and 8.72% as \u2018fairly easy\u2019. The mean FKGL was 8.64, with 98% being above reading level 6. Overall, there was an association between FKGL and complication occurrence (\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.005). Stratification by species demonstrated FRE and FKGL to be associated with complication occurrence in dogs (FRE score,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.038; FKGL,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.002), but not cats (FRE score,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.964; FKGL,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      = 0.679).\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Limitations<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Due to the retrospective nature of the study, there were difficulties associated with extracting relevant complication information from the medical records.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Only 2% of owner\u2010directed discharge instructions were written at readability levels aligning with the recommendations set forth in the human guidelines.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1002\/vetr.3796","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,7]],"date-time":"2024-02-07T03:26:43Z","timestamp":1707276403000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Readability of postoperative discharge instructions is associated with complication rate in companion animals undergoing sterilisation"],"prefix":"10.1002","volume":"194","author":[{"given":"Christopher M.","family":"Biancaniello","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research and Innovation in Veterinary and Medical Education, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre  West Indies Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4660-5676","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kerry E.","family":"Rolph","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research and Innovation in Veterinary and Medical Education, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre  West Indies Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0406-2631","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sarah M.","family":"Cavanaugh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research and Innovation in Veterinary and Medical Education, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre  West Indies Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Priti","family":"Karnik","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research and Innovation in Veterinary and Medical Education, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre  West Indies Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Peda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research and Innovation in Veterinary and Medical Education, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre  West Indies Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1064-3785","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ryan P.","family":"Cavanaugh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research and Innovation in Veterinary and Medical Education, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, Basseterre  West Indies Saint Kitts and Nevis"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,2,6]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"e_1_2_12_2_1","first-page":"43","article-title":"Readability of texts: state of the art","volume":"2","author":"Zamamian M","year":"2012","journal-title":"Theory Pract Lang Stud"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11606-012-2046-0"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4103\/1357-6283.210517"},{"key":"e_1_2_12_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"LopezC KimB SacksK. 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Reading the numbers: 130 million American adults have low literacy skills but funding differs drastically by state. APM Research Lab;2022. Accessed 6 Apr 2023. 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