SP 5.06 Digital Consent Transformation and its Effect on Documentation Quality and Clinical Process: The Largest Multi-Specialty NHS Cohort Study

Clicks: 1
ID: 323889
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #250 of 432 articles by views in the british journal of surgery

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 432 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Abstract Aims The use of digital consent has been increasing in preference to paper-based consent. Previous studies evaluating digital consent have been small, representing only a few surgical specialties. We aimed to perform the largest study to date evaluating the transformation from paper-based to digital consent forms at an NHS teaching hospital across multiple specialties. Methods An SBRI project (SBRIH19P3055) evaluating consent forms from all specialities was conducted across two phases over a 14-month period. Phase 1 (02/2022-06/2022) assessed the current state of using paper-based consent forms, and Phase 2 (08/2022-08/2023) assessed digital consent forms (Concentric). Forms were assessed for errors, unexplained abbreviations, and whether the consent form or additional information was provided. Results A total of 2866 consent forms were analysed across 16 specialities (Paper-based: 403, Digital: 2463). In the paper-based cohort 95.8% (n=386) of forms had at least one error, compared 0.1% (n=2) in the digital cohort. Unexplained abbreviations accounted in 44.9% (n=163) of paper-based consent forms, in contrast to 2.6% (n=65) in digital. Digital consent increased the practice of providing a copy of the consent form to the patient by 62.2% (Paper: 20.8%, Digital: 83.4%), with additional information provided such as a leaflet increasing by 35.2% (Paper: 18.1%, Digital: 53.3%). Conclusion Digital consent significantly decreased form errors and improved information shared to the patient about their surgery, with those consent forms shared having more patient educational content than paper-based handwritten forms. This should benefit patients by enhancing informed consent and surgeons by providing better medicolegal documentation.
Reference Key
openalex_W7172507554 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Alexander W. Coombs, Mohammad Iqbal Hussain, Leon D’Cruz, Amy Huseyin, Prof Simon Toh, Edward St John
Journal the british journal of surgery
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/bjs/znag087.065
URL
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.