Enhancing Patient Understanding Through Video-Assisted Consent for Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BackgroundInformed consent is a cornerstone of ethical and legal medical practice, ensuring patients understand treatment benefits, risks, and alternatives. Patients often forget key details, potentially compromising decision-making. This study evaluates whether incorporating an informative video into the standard consent process enhances patient comprehension, retention, and satisfaction for laparoscopic cholecystectomy.MethodsThis single-center, parallel-group, superiority randomized controlled trial was conducted in a hospital setting in Turkey. It included 264 patients, evenly divided. The control group underwent standard verbal consent; the video-consent group received an informative video additionally. Both groups completed an 8-question knowledge test and the 32-point Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ-8) post-consent. Scores were compared statistically. Harms were assessed via patient self-report of adverse events or discomfort related to the consent process or video.ResultsThe video-consent group achieved significantly higher scores in the surgery and complications categories (<i>P</i> = 0.032 and <i>P</i> = 0.048). Significant differences were found for Questions 5 and 7 (<i>P</i> = 0.021 and <i>P</i> = 0.043). Satisfaction scores were higher in the video-consent group (<i>P</i> = 0.044), and satisfaction correlated with comprehension scores (<i>P</i> < 0.001). Older age negatively correlated with comprehension (<i>P</i> = 0.041), and secondary-educated patients in the video-consent group scored significantly higher (<i>P</i> = 0.039).ConclusionIncorporating video into the consent process improves patient comprehension and satisfaction, particularly for surgery and complications. Video-assisted consent is a valuable adjunct to traditional methods, enhancing patient understanding and engagement. Further studies are needed to explore its broader applicability.