[Analysis of informed consent readibility in intensive care]

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Health Communication
• Patient Advocacy

Background:

• Informed consent is crucial for patient autonomy in healthcare.
• Readability of informed consent documents directly impacts patient comprehension and decision-making.
• Previous assessments indicate challenges in simplifying complex medical information for diverse patient populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the readability of informed consent (IC) documents used in an intensive care unit (ICU) and across the Andalusian Healthcare System (AHS).
• To identify specific readability metrics that are not met by current IC documents.
• To inform improvements in patient communication and understanding of medical procedures.

Main Methods:

• A descriptive study analyzing 14 IC documents from an ICU and 14 from the AHS.
• Utilized six readability scores: Flesch, Sentence complexity, LEGIN, Fernández-Huerta, Szigriszt, and INFLESZ.
• Quantified the percentage of documents meeting each readability criterion.

Main Results:

• A significant majority of IC documents (85.7%) failed to meet at least one readability index.
• Only 14.3% of documents satisfied all analyzed readability indexes.
• While some scores showed better performance (e.g., Sentence complexity), overall readability remains a concern across both ICU and AHS settings.

Conclusions:

• Informed consent documents analyzed are generally difficult for the public to read and comprehend.
• The current IC documents do not effectively fulfill their primary purpose of ensuring clear patient understanding.
• There is a critical need to revise and simplify IC documents to enhance patient comprehension and uphold ethical standards.