Disclosure and informed-consent: does it matter how we tell it?
Traditionally, informed consent has been handled by the physician in a one-to-one interchange with the patient. As standards for adequate disclosure become more rigid and demands on physician time increase, however, the physician-patient model may cease to be practical. This study evaluated four alterative disclosure models: a formal discussion, a videotape, a pamphlet, and an informal discussion, each designed and executed by a team of health educators. Study results suggest that the informed consent process is little affected by disclosure medium and that it may be possible to strive for cost-efficiency in disclosure without compromising the quality of the consent obtained. Based on these results, a two-part disclosure process is proposed which allocates certain aspects of the disclosure to the treating physician, others to health education.
D000328:Adult; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008722:Methods; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D013664:Teaching Materials