Study finds patients benefit from thorough discussion of recommended operations
Wednesday, July 7, 2010 - 16:28
in Health & Medicine
Surgical patients who participate in longer- to 30-minute- discussions prior to having an operation (known as the informed consent process) better understand the proposed operation, according to new research published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. In addition, researchers found that asking the patient to "repeat back" their understanding of the procedure was effective in enhancing patient comprehension of informed consent issues. This is the largest study ever conducted on the surgical informed consent process.