title: An Informed Consent Program Enhances Surgery Resident Education.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  First-year residents often obtain informed consent from patients. However, they typically receive no formal training in this area before residency. We wished to determine whether an educational program would improve residents' comfort with this process.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our institution created an informed consent educational program, which included a didactic component, a role-play about informed consent, and a simulation exercise using standardized patients. Residents completed surveys before and after the intervention, and responses to survey questions were compared using the signed-rank test.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study took place at Temple University Hospital, a tertiary care institution in Philadelphia, PA.
  
  
  METHODS
  First-year surgery and emergency medicine residents at Temple University Hospital in 2014 participated in this study. Thirty-two residents completed the preintervention survey and 27 residents completed the educational program and postintervention survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 37.5% had ever received formal training in informed consent before residency. After participating in the educational program, residents were significantly more confident that they could correctly describe the process of informed consent, properly fill out a procedure consent form, and properly obtain informed consent from a patient. Their comfort level in obtaining informed consent significantly increased. They found the educational program to be very effective in improving their knowledge and comfort level in obtaining informed consent. In all, 100% (N = 27) of residents said they would recommend the use of the program with other first-year residents.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Residents became more confident in their ability to obtain informed consent after participating in an educational program that included didactic, role-play, and patient simulation elements.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: sarah.e.koller@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Koller
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Ryan F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Michael B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Jeanette
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Daohai
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Risk Management, Temple University Hospital, Temple University Health System, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Charles B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Conklin
authors.affiliation: Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine, William Maul Measey Institute for Clinical Simulation and Patient Safety, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Milner
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
authors.forename: Amy J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D013502:General Surgery / Q000193:education*; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008297:Male; D015143:Philadelphia; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
keywords: Interpersonal and Communication Skills; Patient Care; Practice-Based Learning and Improvement; Professionalism; education; informed consent; resident; surgery