Abstract Aims Consent is integral to surgery. ‘Good Surgical Practice’ by the Royal College of Surgeons provides national guidance on the consent process. This study evaluated the effect of the introduction of electronic consent forms (econsent) on the quality of consenting in upper gastrointestinal surgery. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed of 190 consecutive adult patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal and general surgical elective procedures at a single tertiary referral centre (oesophagectomy, gastrectomy, hiatus hernia repair, cholecystectomy, inguinal hernia repair, ventral hernia repair, staging laparoscopy). Consent forms before (paper consent) and after the introduction of econsent forms were compared for legibility and completeness of demographic and clinical information. Results The consent form was missing from the patient record for 10 patients consented on paper (12%). All consent forms for econsent were available, Econsent was subjectively more legible than paper consent. Consultant details was missing on 12% of paper consent forms but documented on all econsent forms (p0.001). Documentation regarding risks of surgery was more comprehensive on econsent forms including scarring (p0.001), incisional hernia (p0.001), post-operative pain (p=0.02) and venous thromboembolism (p=0.04). No risks were more likely to be documented on paper consent than econsent. Conclusions Electronic consent forms have improved the quality of patient consent by being more readily available in patient’s electronic medical records and more legible. Furthermore, documentation of surgical risks was more comprehensive with less missing relevant clinical information. Electronic consent forms should therefore be recommended, where possible, in clinical practice to improve the standard of surgical consent.
Bramer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.