Efficacy and quality of informed consent for Dacryocystorhinostomy–a prospective study

To date, consent for complex ocular procedures has not received much attention in the literature. As a specialty, ophthalmology surrenders to the ‘treadmill’ efficiency of pooled lists, assigned assessments and generic patient information sheets.7 There is an assumption that valid consent has been gained when patients may still be uninformed. Furthermore, patients may report high levels of satisfaction, yet remain to have poor levels of understanding.8 Patient retention of operation risks is poor and the capacity to provide fully informed consent is influenced by the patients level of education, literacy and language competency.9–11 The anatomy of the lacrimal system and potential for surgery is a difficult concept for patients to perceive, especially without pictorial or comprehensive written material devoid of medical jargon. Considering all these factors, it may be likely that the process we deem as valid consent is actually an uninformed one. To our knowledge no prior studies have looked at objective improvement in patient recollection and understanding during informed consent for dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR). In our survey, we aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of our current standard consenting process for dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) at increasing understanding and comprehension in a competent patient in a specialist ophthalmology centre in London.