Recall of consent information by day care prostate biopsy patients: An assessment of the role of a third-party check.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the extent of recall of consent information by daycare prostate biopsy patients in our low-literacy setting. And to evaluate the role of a 3rd party check on patient's recall of consent information. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: As part of our standard of care, a formal informed consent session for day care prostate biopsy takes place 3 days prior to the procedure. For this study, before leaving the outpatient clinic the same day, the patient acknowledged before a third-party that his concerns were or were not satisfactorily addressed. The extent of recall of consent information was assessed on the morning of the procedure using a researcher-administered questionnaire. Consecutive patients participated in this cross-sectional study for day care prostate biopsy at a tertiary hospital in southeast Nigeria from February to November 2015 after obtaining due consent. RESULTS: The recall of the risks associated with the planned procedure was poorer than the recall of the nature of the disease condition or the nature of the planned procedure. However, it was observed that aggregate recall was significantly poorer among patients who negatively attested to a satisfying consent session (OR 0.125; P < 0.0005). CONCLUSION: The use of a third-party in determining patient satisfaction after a consent session may be a better indicator of patient comprehension and subsequent recall of consent information, especially in low-literacy settings. Using a third-party, in this manner, may assist in checking paternalism inherent in the patient-doctor relationship.