Patients With Limited Health Literacy Have Similar Preferences but Different Perceptions in Surgical Decision-making for Carpal Tunnel Release

摘要

BackgroundHealth literacy is the ability to obtain, process, and understand health information needed to make appropriate health decisions. The proper comprehension by patients regarding a given disease, its treatment, and the physician’s instructions plays an important role in shared decision-making. Studies have disagreed over the degree to which differences in health literacy affect patients’ preferences for shared decision-making; we therefore sought to evaluate this in the context of shared decision-making about carpal tunnel release.