Patient Recall of Information on a Third Molar Informed Consent Video

Abstract

Experience has shown that in malpractice cases patients often claim certain information was not provided during the informed consent process. The purposes of this study were to determine how much of an informed consent video patients initially remember and how much is recalled when there is a hiatus from viewing the video to the surgery. In this prospective cohort study, patients presenting for impacted third molar removal in an academic setting (n=50) or a private office (n=50) viewed an informed consent video and then met with the treating doctor for further discussion and signing of an informed consent form. Then, they were given a 10-item test containing questions relating to the information provided on the video. At the subsequent time of surgery, they were again given the same test. The number of correct answers at the 2 points was compared. There was a significant difference in the number of correct responses between the 2 time points (P=.0212) and between patients from the 2 practice settings (P=.0076). However, these differences were less than 0.5 of a possible 10. The number of correct responses was not associated with age (P=.1203), gender (P=.6647), or number of days between testing (P=.7272). Patients have good recall of the information provided by the informed consent video. However, because some information was forgotten, a presurgical review of the information is advisable.