Berlin – People with cognitive impairments need a special form of communication. This is especially true when it comes to medical examinations. That is why the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), the German Evangelical Hospital Association (DEKV) and the Mara Hospital in Bielefeld-Bethel have jointly developed material in easy language.
People with cognitive impairments are a particularly vulnerable group whose healthcare is made more difficult by, among other things, communication difficulties and time pressure. The aim of the project was to develop easy-to-understand health information that
are understandable and useful for people with cognitive impairments and support nursing professionals in discussions with patients.
“Right from the start, we had a common goal in mind with the Mara Hospital and the DEKV: to provide people with good information about illnesses, treatments and examinations – regardless of whether they have a disability or not,” says Klaus Koch, Head of Health Information at IQWiG . “It is also important for people with cognitive impairments to understand what is happening to their body and what they need to pay attention to before and after an examination,” adds Katja Rosenthal-Schleicher, deputy nursing director at the Mara Hospital in Bielefeld. “Not least because this can determine the success or failure of an examination.” Melanie Kanzler, association director of the DEKV, goes one step further: “It is important for nursing staff to inform patients in such a way that they support examinations and treatments. Materials in plain language make a decisive contribution to this.”
Practical test with patients and employees at the Mara Hospital
Employees from the participating institutions have identified colonoscopy as the first common topic: specifically, information should be prepared on how to prepare for a colonoscopy and what needs to be taken into account afterwards.
The texts were created in easy language and checked by people with cognitive impairments. The test subjects’ feedback was very positive and their suggestions for wording were very helpful. At the same time, the materials were subjected to a user and practical test at the Mara Hospital: a total of ten patients with cognitive impairments and 21 hospital employees took part in the interviews.
Notes on possible uses
Those affected and employees rated the materials as useful and supportive. “At the same time, the feedback helped us to identify and break down barriers to understanding. For example, younger testers no longer knew the term ‘sparkling water’ – we replaced this term with ‘carbonated water’,” explains Beate Wiegard, project manager at IQWiG. Other comments related to graphics and helped to make them even clearer and more appealing.
The feedback from the employees also provided information about the possible uses of the materials:
Formulation help for employees to have a conversation in plain language, printing out individual elements to support the conversation about a specific aspect and printed brochures that can be sent before the colonoscopy and discussed with relatives at home. Materials can be accessed by hospitals free of charge
Melanie Kanzler calls for broad support for the project: “Communication needs special attention when it comes to health care for people with disabilities. In order to create acceptance and awareness in everyday clinical practice, we depend on many supporters and participants from nursing, therapy and medicine, on advocates and on supporters from politics and the healthcare system.”
“We would therefore be pleased if the materials for colonoscopy in plain language would be used in as many hospitals as possible and make communication a little easier for people with cognitive impairments,” concluded Klaus Koch.
The materials can be requested free of charge from all interested hospitals:
To the background
Around 1.5 million people live with cognitive impairments in Germany. People with intellectual disability are particularly susceptible to physical and mental illnesses. Every year, around 126,000 people with severe and multiple disabilities are treated in German hospitals.
Easy language is intended to make it easier for people with cognitive impairments or learning difficulties to access information and thus participate. The presentation in plain language is very reduced and follows fixed rules, such as separating long words with a hyphen and writing each new sentence on a new line. Only the most important statements of an everyday language text are presented and the texts are checked by people with learning difficulties.
Who we are The Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) has, among other things, the legal mandate to provide understandable health information for all citizens. The Mara Hospital is a specialist hospital for inclusive medicine and epileptology and is one of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. It is part of the OWL University Hospital of Bielefeld University. 2,500 people with disabilities are treated here every year. The German Evangelical Hospital Association (DEKV) is particularly committed to caring for vulnerable patient groups, such as people with cognitive impairments. 199 Protestant clinics are organized in the DEKV.
The German Evangelical Hospital Association (DEKV) represents one in nine German hospitals with 199 Protestant clinics at 273 locations. The Protestant hospitals care for more than 2 million inpatients and more than 3.5 million outpatients every year. That’s more than one in 10 fully inpatient patients nationwide. With over 123,000 employees and a turnover of more than €10 billion, they are an important economic factor. The DEKV is the industry association of Protestant hospitals and a member of the Evangelical Work for Diakonie and Development eV as well as the board and presidium of the German Hospital Association. The DEKV is particularly committed to a future-oriented and innovative hospital policy with a variety of providers and quality competition, reliable framework conditions for hospital financing, modernization of the healthcare professions and consistent patient orientation in care.
Chairman: Head Christoph Radbruch, Magdeburg, deputy. Chairwoman: Andrea Trenner, Berlin, Treasurer: Dr. Holger Stiller, Düsseldorf, association director: Melanie Kanzler, Berlin.