[Success, satisfaction and improvement of informed consents for computed tomography : A survey among patients and physicians]. / Aufklärungserfolg, Zufriedenheit und Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten bei Computertomographie-Aufklärungen : Eine Befragung von Patienten und Ärzten.

BACKGROUND: Providing informed consent before a computed tomography (CT) is important for the physicians and the patients. A personal interview about the procedure, risks, and possible alternatives is mandatory before a CT examination. METHODS: A survey was carried out on patient satisfaction with regard to the duration and content of informed consents of CT examinations. Physicians were also interviewed about the duration and content of CT informed consents. Another part of the survey dealt with the acceptance of technical innovations, such as information videos or tablets/PCs. RESULTS: A total of 512 patients and 106 physicians took part in the survey. The duration of the informed consent was estimated by the patients to be 4.08 min on average and 4.7 min by the physicians. The most detailed information given by the physicians regards side effects associated with contrast agents. Less information was given on possible diagnostic alternatives and the need for an examination. According to this, about 92% of all patients did not remember having received information about alternative examinations. Furthermore, 88.7% of the patients and 95.3% of the physicians recommended informed consent using interactive videos and animations, and 74% of the patients and 98.8% of the physicians recommended answering questions on tablet/PC. CONCLUSION: Patients estimated the duration of a CT informed consent to be a little bit shorter, although some patients did not remember the content very well. The acceptance of technical innovations was very high among the participants. The use of information videos and tablets/PCs could increase the success of providing informed consent.

[Analysis of documented informed consent forms for computed tomography : Completeness and data quality in four clinics]. / Analyse von dokumentierten Computertomographie-Aufklärungen : Vollständigkeit und Datenqualität in vier Kliniken.

BACKGROUND: Before performing a medical procedure, such as a computed tomography, an obligatory informed consent of the patient and its detailed documentation is necessary. METHODS: A total of 1424 informed consent forms for contrast-enhanced computed tomography from four clinics with different healthcare levels were analyzed. Informed consent forms were evaluated related to completeness, legibility and quality. RESULTS: In all, 1110 (77.9%) informed consent forms were sufficiently completed, 267 patients (18.8%) answered the form incompletely and 47 patients (3.3%) returned it without answering a question. Handwritten comments were found in 1391 (97.7%) cases. Thereof, 1329 (93.3%) were graded as detailed comments and 62 (4.4%) as less detailed comments. These comments were well legible in 675 (47.4%) cases, 558 (39.2%) informed consents showed limited legibility and in 158 (11.1%) more than 50% of the comments were unreadable. Signatures were complete in 1374 (96.5%) informed consent forms. CONCLUSION: The results show a better quality and documentation of informed consent forms for computed tomography obtained by radiology residents compared to radiological specialists. Compared to the radiologists, the non-radiologists performed significantly worse. The establishment of videos and use of digital informed consent forms could provide a possible solution.

A biodynamic basis for perceived categories of action: a study of sitting and stair climbing.

Actors must determine whether the properties of the surface layout are sufficient to meet their specific requirements for performing an action. Warren's (1984) study of bipedal stair climbing has demonstrated the significance of intrinsic, body-scaled measures of environmental properties for defining perceptual categories relevant to action. Whereas the absolute measure of the perceptual boundary between "climbable" and "not climbable" varied according to the actor's size and mass, the perceived boundary was a constant proportion of each actor's leg length. Our current study examined the perceived maximum seat height (SHmax) for the act of sitting. Experiment 1 delineated the range of surface heights that were perceived to afford sitting on. When expressed as a function of each person's leg length (L), SHmax was remarkably stable across individuals. Unexpectedly, it was quite close to the maximum riser height determined by Warren. Experiment 2 examined whether this similarity reflected a common biodynamic requirement, since climbing and sitting require actors to lift their center of gravity above the surface of support. Perceived critical heights were obtained for both acts using the same methods and apparatus. The perceived maximum heights for each act were virtually identical. These findings are consistent with the possibility that the information used in determining critical action boundaries is already scaled with reference to some physical dimension of the actor.