Informed consent: are we doing enough?

We report our findings in a prospective, randomised study of patient recall of verbal versus written preoperative warnings. There were 132 patients in the verbal group and 137 in the written group, with a similar age and sex distribution in both groups. Four of the seven preoperative warnings were remembered significantly better by the group receiving the written warnings (P < 0.001–0.05). However, the mean number of warnings recalled was fewer than 3 in the verbal group, and fewer than 4 (P = 0.0057) in the written group (Mann-Whitney U-test). Patients given verbal warnings were less able to recall them than those receiving written warnings. The inference is that they entered into surgery less well informed.