Comprehensive evaluation of Medtronic's Butterfly platform, a new audiovisual information material for patient education and shared decision-making in surgical thyroid disease.

BACKGROUND: To facilitate shared decision-making, patients increasingly rely on online platforms for health-related information. While thyroid diseases are common, the quality of available thyroid-related information varies. This study comprehensively evaluated a new audiovisual information material developed by Medtronic for patients with surgical thyroid disease in English and French. METHODS: Data were collected from patients at baseline (t1), after accessing the French version of Medtronic’s Butterfly platform but before surgery (t2), and three weeks post-surgery (t3). Patients assessed the material’s usefulness (USE), impact (eHIQ) and quality (Brief DISCERN), provided feedback on its content using a custom debriefing questionnaire, and self-reported on their anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9) and stress (PSS-14). We assessed both versions for readability (FRES, FKGL, SMOG, GFI, and Scolarius); understandability and actionability (PEMAT-A/V); linguistic aspects (LIWC-22) and tone style (YesChat Tone Analyzer). In addition to quantitative and qualitative analyses of the respective datasets, triangulation was used to integrate both approaches. RESULTS: Of 26 patients enrolled, 24 participated at t2 and 22 at t3; both benign and malignant/potentially malignant surgical indications were represented. The material’s usefulness and impact scores at t2 were significantly above respective predefined thresholds. Consistently, qualitative analysis showed that most participants found the material useful/ very useful. Whereas anxiety and depression scores were low across t1-t3, levels of stress were consistently high; PSS-14 scores at t1 correlated positively with eHIQ-Part 2 scores at t3 (r = 0.495, p = 0.019), suggesting that patients with higher stress may experience a greater impact. Even though readability scores for both languages indicated higher complexity than the generally recommended 6th -8th grade level, neither the quantitative nor the qualitative patient feedback indicated challenges with the material’s language. Assessment of the material by five investigators showed very good understandability and excellent actionability. Linguistic analysis showed a somewhat higher complexity of the French version; for both versions, tone analysis reported a clear, approachable, and professional style, with direct and informative content, using generally simple language. Finally, participants suggested slight improvements, especially regarding online navigation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide preliminary evidence that the Butterfly platform may serve as a useful educational resource for patients undergoing thyroid surgery; further validation in larger and more diverse populations is warranted.