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On the readability of surgical consent forms
The New England Journal of Medicine
|April 17, 1980
Summary
Many surgical consent forms are too difficult for patients to understand. Readability tests show these forms are written at a graduate-level, potentially leading to inadequate patient consent for surgery.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Health Literacy
- Patient Communication
Background:
- Ensuring the validity of surgical consent forms is crucial.
- However, the readability and patient comprehension of these forms are often overlooked.
- Informed consent is a cornerstone of ethical medical practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the readability of surgical consent forms.
- To determine if current forms are understandable to the average patient.
- To highlight the implications of poor readability on patient consent.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of five representative surgical consent forms.
- Application of two standardized readability tests.
- Evaluation of the reading level required for comprehension.
Main Results:
- All analyzed forms exhibited high readability levels.
- Four forms were at the level of scientific journals; one was at a specialized academic magazine level.
- The average reading level was equivalent to that for upper-division undergraduates or graduate students.
Conclusions:
- Most surgical consent forms are likely too complex for average patients to fully understand.
- This poses a significant risk of inadequate informed consent for thousands of surgeries annually.
- Rewriting difficult consent forms for improved clarity is a necessary solution.