Improving the Consent Process in Foot and Ankle Surgery With the Use of Personalized Patient Literature

A patient-specific letter was introduced to the consent process to observe the effect, if any, on information recall and satisfaction for patients undergoing elective foot and ankle surgery. The patients attending the clinic were written a personalized letter-this was a simple personalized letter that outlined their treatment options, the proposed management plan, likely treatment course, and the benefits, risks, and likely period required for recovery. The personalized letter system was compared with the 2 existing methods of consent process: signing for consent at their outpatient encounter at which they were scheduled for surgery and a separate consent clinic without the personalized letter. A total of 111 patients (87 females, 24 males) undergoing elective foot and ankle surgery were assessed on the day of surgery for recall of the procedure, risks, postoperative course, and satisfaction with the consent process. Patients receiving a personalized letter recalled more than those who had attended a routine preoperative consent clinic visit and significantly more than those who had provided consent at their last clinic visit. Patient satisfaction with the consent process was also greater in the personalized group. Our results suggest that the consent process is improved using routine preoperative consent clinics and, most notably, with patient-specific information to improve patient recall and satisfaction.