Improving risk literacy in surgeons

Abstract

Objective: To effectively practice evidence-based medicine, surgeons need to understand and be able to communicate health-relevant numerical information. We present the first study examining risk literacy in surgeons by assessing numeracy and surgical risk comprehension. Our study also investigated whether visual aids improve risk comprehension in surgeons with limited numeracy.

Methods: Participants were 292 surgeons from 60 countries who completed an instrument measuring numeracy and evaluated the results of a randomized controlled trial including post-surgical side-effects. Half of the surgeons received this information in numbers. The other half received the information represented visually. Accuracy of risk estimation, reading latency, and estimate latency (i.e., deliberation) were assessed.

Results: Some surgeons have low numeracy and could not correctly interpret surgical risks without additional support. Visual aids made risks transparent and eliminated differences in risk understanding between more and less numerate surgeons, increasing the amount of time that less numerate surgeons spent deliberating about risks.

Conclusions: Visual aids can be an efficient and inexpensive means of improving risk comprehension and clinical judgement in surgeons with low numerical and statistical skills.

Practice implications: Programs designed to help professionals represent and communicate health-relevant numerical information in simple transparent graphs may unobtrusively promote informed decision making.

Keywords: Medical education; Numeracy; Risk communication; Risk literacy; Risk perception; Surgeons; Visual aids.