Using tablet-based informed consent is convenient, eliminates the risk of lost paperwork and often can help expedite care. However, healthcare experts still believe that older adults prefer a paper-based consent process.
A study led by a psychologist at Weill Cornell Medical College, however, recently found that all older adult participants in a pilot trial examining the use of a tablet-based informed consent process completed the consent without incident and rated the process as just as user-friendly and understandable as the paper-based consent.
Published in The Gerontologist, the study first used a focus group of older adults to explore the idea of tablet-based consent. The group, while expressing interest in the novel format, cautioned researchers that their peers would likely need a great deal of instruction to complete the task. However, when the researchers actually tested the use of a tablet-based consent process with 20 participants age 65 years and older, for a mock clinical trial, they didn’t need excessive instruction at all.
In fact, many expressed appreciation for the tablet-based consent’s delivery of information through multiple channels — both visual and auditory.
The researchers found, although participants took an average of 53% longer to complete the tablet-based consent than the paper-based version, ratings of user-friendliness, immediate comprehension and their retention of the tablet-based consent were similar to that with paper.
In fact, the study found that participants reported a slightly better understanding of the consent information in the tablet condition.
“The study provides encouragement for continued efforts to develop tablet-based consent processes for older adults,” the authors wrote. They suggest, however, that when tablet-based consent is used with older adults, providers take care to ensure that patients have a good understanding of the material.
From the April 1, 2019 Issue of McKnight's Long-Term Care News
