title: Real-Time Captioning for Improving Informed Consent: Patient and Physician Benefits.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  New methods are needed to improve physicians' skill in communicating information and to enhance patients' ability to recall that information. We evaluated a real-time speech-to-text captioning system that simultaneously provided a speech-to-text record for both patient and anesthesiologist. The goals of the study were to assess hearing-impaired patients' recall of an informed consent discussion about regional anesthesia using real-time captioning and to determine whether the physicians found the system useful for monitoring their own performance.
  
  
  METHODS
  We recorded 2 simulated informed consent encounters with hearing-impaired older adults, in which physicians described regional anesthetic procedures. The conversations were conducted with and without real-time captioning. Subsequently, the patient participants, who wore their hearing aids throughout, were tested on the material presented, and video recordings of the encounters were analyzed to determine how effectively physicians communicated with and without the captioning system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The anesthesiology residents provided similar information to the patient participants regardless of whether the real-time captioning system was used. Although the patients retained relatively few details regardless of the informed consent discussion, they could recall significantly more of the key points when provided with real-time captioning.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Real-time speech-to-text captioning improved recall in hearing-impaired patients and proved useful for determining the information provided during an informed consent encounter. Real-time speech-to-text captioning could provide a method for assessing physicians' communication that could be used both for self-assessment and as an evaluative approach to training communication skills in practice settings.
authors.affiliation: From the Departments of *Otolaryngology, †Psychology, and ‡Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO.
authors.forename: Brent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Spehar
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Tye-Murray
authors.forename: Joel
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myerson
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Murray
mesh_terms: D000765:Anesthesia, Conduction / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003199:Computer Systems / Q000592:standards*; D003658:Decision Making, Computer-Assisted; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*; D008297:Male; D010358:Patient Participation / Q000379:methods* / Q000523:psychology; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*