Patient satisfaction with medical disclosure and consent documents for treatment: Applying conceptualizations of uncertainty to examine successful attempts at communicating risk

Abstract

Although growing evidence suggests that the informed consent process often involves ineffective communication, little is known about how patients evaluate the communicative features of medical disclosure and consent documents (MDCDs). This study was an attempt to uncover some successful elements of MDCDs by asking patients to report on what they found satisfying with a consent form. Participants (N = 150) were administered a sample form for a cardiac catheterization and were asked during face-to-face interviews to describe what they liked about it. They also provided data about their level of education, level of health literacy, age, and experience receiving healthcare as patient characteristics. Open-ended comments were thematically analyzed according to conceptualizations of uncertainty and information management in healthcare settings. We found that patients commented most often on the completeness of relevant information, clear language, straightforward organization, and minimal volume of material in the document. There was little evidence that patient characteristics such as health literacy or experience receiving healthcare predicted patients’ satisfaction with the MDCD. A recommendation for incorporating these findings into practice, termed the CLOVE framework, is summarized.