[page 138] [Orthopedic Reviews 2013; 5:e32] A prospective randomized control study on patient’s recallof consent after hand surgery:how much they want to know?

Informed consent implies that the person undergoing an intervention thoroughly under-stands its pros and cons. We conducted a ran-domized control trial to evaluate patients’ recall of complications after day case hand sur-gery and how this can be influenced by age and/or socioeconomic factors. Patients ’ wishes on the extent and type of provided information were also evaluated. A total of 124 cases were recruited. Ten cases were excluded because they presented for follow up more than 2 weeks after surgery. The other patients were random-ized into 2 groups: the first one (48) received only verbal information, while the second one (66) also received written information sheets. No statistically significant difference was noted in the recall between the two groups. No difference among gender, age or socioeconom-ic status was noted. Most patients preferred both written and verbal information. Preferen-ce for knowledge of rates of complications increased when surgery was dangerous. Our results don’t show any significant difference in patients ’ recall depending on the type of con-senting method. Nevertheless, we still propose that patients should receive as much informa-tion as possible before undergoing any inter-vention