Aims and objectives
Adequate consent of patients undergoing a procedure is key to making an informed decision.
We aim to test a visual interactive web-based consent tool to assess if this makes a difference in the patient experience and satisfaction.
The consent tool is available on www.rad1.org/tool
Methods and materials
We used an interactive web-based tool to visually demonstrate to patients the steps of an ultrasound-guided injection on a touchscreen device such as a tablet or a smartphone.
We used the same generic ultrasound-guided injection images for the different procedures to demonstrate the principles of the intervention.
This was then followed by the procedure.
The patient was then asked to wait in the monitoring station and requested to anonymously fill a patient satisfaction survey.
45 patients were sampled.
We recorded to see if using the...
Results
The types of procedures performed in the survey
Subacromial-subdeltoidinjection
LHB shoulder injection
Acromioclavicular joint injection
Shoulder barbotage of calcific tendonitis
Hip trochanteric bursa injection
Common extensor tendon elbow injection
Hip joint injection
Morton's neuroma foot injection
95% of patients rated their understanding of the procedure to be 4 or 5,
where 5 is 'excellent' and 1 is 'none',
after using the tool.
When asked the question:
The following were the most helpful aspects of the consent tool:
Improving understanding - 100 % selected agree or...
Conclusion
Limitations
We did not compare control versus using the tool and our sample size was small.
Not every patient who was asked to fill the questionnaire completed it and perhaps patients who were generally more satisfied with the whole procedure were more likely to participate and give higher scores,
and the more anxious patients or those less satisfied may be underrepresented.
Conclusions
Even allowing for the limitations,
using simple visual aids such as the one used in this small study allow patients to better understand...
Personal information
Dr Syed Junaid MBBS BSc AICSM FRCR
Cardiff
syed.junaid @wales.nhs.uk
Dr Asad Saeed MBBS BSc AICSM
Dr Ishan Gunatunga MBBS FRCR