Interventions to promote informed consent for patients undergoing surgical and other invasive healthcare procedures

Increased Access to Professional Interpreters in the Hospital Improves Informed Consent for Patients with Limited English Proficiency

“…Our primary outcome was a patient-centered evaluation of informed consent, which was developed based on previous studies [33][34][35][36][37][38] and the following three central informed consent elements: patient-reported understanding of the (1) reasons for and (2) risks of the procedure and (3) having had all questions answered. Specifically, we asked participants the following questions: (1) How well do you understand the reasons you need to have the procedure/surgery?…”

Language Barriers, Informed Consent, and Effective Caregiving

“…5 Much more thorough assessments of the content, process, and impact of informed consent could have been very helpful, not only in assessing the impact of the intervention, but in understanding more fully the variety of barriers to achieving informed consent with LEP patients, so that we can more reliably and successfully address them. 6 Several features of the study raise the possibility of both unidentified bias favoring positive results and uncertain generalizability to other settings: its pre/post-evaluation design, the lack of a concurrent control, the limited duration of the study (8 months), and its conduct within a single institution. But these limitations should not distract from the authors' convincing evidence that a simple intervention with nearuniversal generalizability achieved a major improvement in patient experience: dual handset telephones can be installed at any point of care, anywhere in our health system, and can be used for any interactions with patients with limited English proficiency.…”

Identifying Predictors of a Difficult Thyroidectomy

“…Our study describes preoperative factors that predict a more difficult thyroid operation, and since our definition of a difficult thyroid operation (TDS score >10) was associated with more complications, these factors may predict postoperative complications. Proper informed consent is ethically and legally required for all planned therapies (38); informed consent for a surgery must include the risks, expected benefits and alternatives to treatment, and must also include discussion of the expected postoperative course, including other interventions that may be needed if complications occur (39,40). Since hyperthyroidism, positive antithyroglobulin antibodies and high thyroglobulin are associated with DT, this information should be included during a patient's preoperative counseling, thereby enabling the discussion to be tailored to the individual patient.…”