A novel scale for the evaluation of physician drawn medical illustrations

Abstract

Effective communication is a crucial component of patient-centered care and individuals with low health literacy face significant challenges in managing their health, leading to longer hospital stays and worse outcomes. Visual aids, such as medical illustrations and pictograms, can enhance patient understanding and memory retention; however, there is a lack in the medical field of tools for evaluating and improving a physician’s ability to draw clinical illustrations for their patient. This article explores an aesthetic scale created in collaboration between Boston University Medical School and the Boston University Fine-Arts department. The scale scores basic design elements that could reasonably be improved in a clinical setting. A pilot study demonstrated interrater reliability between trained artists scoring images of varying concepts and visual quality with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.95. This scale has potential use in medical visual education and clinical evaluation.

Keywords:

• Patient education
• health literacy
• patient comprehension
• visual aids
• patient-centered interventions
• medical illustration

Disclosure statement

The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. No funds, grants or other support was received. The questionnaire and methodology for this study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Boston Medical Center and Boston University Medical Campus IRB number H-42528. Raw numerical data and analytic code available on request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors wish to thank benefactors who contributed to the Boston University Aram V. Chobanian & Edward Avedisian School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology start-up fund.