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PURPOSE: To assess whether informing patients with an interactive computer-based tool in addition to the face-to-face discussion with their physician is more effective than the conventional informed-consent procedure. SETTING: Hanusch Hospital, Vienna, Austria. DESIGN: Randomized controlled triple-masked clinical trial. METHODS: Patients with bilateral cataract scheduled for cataract surgery at the same center were randomly allocated to a study group or a control group. Patients in the study group were given an interactive computer-based tool (CatInfo) containing a detailed audiovisual presentation about cataract and its treatment. Patients in the control group watched a short sham computer presentation without cataract-related information. Then, all patients had a face-to-face informed-consent discussion with a physician masked to group allocation. Afterward, patients in both groups received the same validated questionnaire with cataract-related questions. RESULTS: The study group comprised 60 patients and the control group, 30 patients. The mean age was 73 years (range 51 to 90 years) and 75 years (range 48 to 94 years), respectively. Patients in the study group answered statistically significantly more questions correctly than patients in the control group (15 versus 12 of 19). There was an age effect in the study group, with the computerized tool having a greater impact on elderly patients. CONCLUSIONS: Patients in the study group were significantly better informed than patients in the control group. These findings show that the interactive computer-based tool is a useful tutorial to achieve a better informed-consent process for cataract surgery.
Wollinger et al. (Tue,) studied this question.
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