Observational studyBMC medical education2025
Assessment of graph literacy among German medical students- an observational cross-sectional survey study.
Observational study in BMC medical education, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInformation literacy depends on diverse skills in processing information, including understanding graphs properly. Especially for those advising and informing people with less information, health and graph literacy, it is important to achieve high competence in these areas themselves. Graph literacy, therefore, is a form of semiotic activity that is a crucial component of overall literacy for (future) physicians. We analyzed the graph literacy of undergraduate medical students to gain knowledge about their skills and potential areas for improvement.
methodsAn observational cross-sectional survey study was performed with undergraduate medical students in their academic years 1 to 5 using the "Graph Literacy Scale." It measures the participant's ability to read and interpret graphically provided information with 13 questions in three dimensions regarding visual data: "reading the data," "reading between the data," and "reading beyond the data." Participants can score between 0 and 13 points.
resultsWe obtained 449 complete questionnaires. Undergraduate medical students showed above-average test results compared to the German standard population, with an average score of 11.42 (SD = 1.42) vs. 9.4 points (SD = 2.6) points (p <.001). Although students generally scored high, one question measuring the ability to visually "read beyond the data" yielded significantly lower scores and showed variability regarding the participants' performance compared to other questions of this category.
conclusionsWhile abilities in visually "reading the data" and "reading between the data" are high in our cohorts, their ability to visually "read beyond the data" is inconsistent. This requires attention in the training of medical students, as weaknesses in this area could lead to susceptibility to misleading data. Enhancing graph literacy in medical students is crucial for effective physician-patient communication.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.