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Augmenting The Concept Of "informed Consent" With Use Of New Visual And Sharing Technology.
Long, T
Roth, M
Soltanian, H
Case Western/University Hospitals
2015-03-15
Presenter: Tobias Long
Affidavit:
All the work on this project represents the original work of the resident.
Director Name: Hooman Soltanian
Author Category: Resident Plastic Surgery
Presentation Category: Clinical
Abstract Category: General Reconstruction
Introduction:
Informed consent has long been established to include not only consent for the procedure but a thorough understanding of alternatives, complications, and potential need for additional surgeries. Traditionally, we as surgeons have approached the process with verbal discussions. In today's world of advancing technology, the process of obtaining informed consent can be augmented with interactive digital multimedia material.
Methods:
We aimed to develop a mobile application which allows the surgeon to efficiently include visual information in the consenting process. We focused on common plastic surgery procedures in several subspecialties (hand, trauma, breast, and cosmetics). A user-friendly visual mobile application was created which can easily be incorporated into the consenting process. Professional medical illustrators were consulted for creating the artwork. A medical technology company lead the application development. In order to further assess its benefits we surveyed patients both with subjective questions as well as objective quiz questions regarding their specific procedure.
Results:
The use of the mobile application not only demonstrated improved surgeon-patient conversations but also demonstrated increase patient understanding of the procedures they are undergoing. Survey data has demonstrated it improves the patient experience and potentially improves and broadens their understanding of the procedure being discussed.
Conclusion:
Incorporating visual components to the traditional verbal consent process can be done without adding frustration to the experience or significantly increasing the patient visit time. We aim to make this a new standard of care in obtaining informed consent and redefine the process to include the use of visual aids.
