Anaesthesia information - What patients want to know

We developed and introduced into clinical practice a leaflet to improve the delivery of information to patients before obtaining their consent to anaesthesia. The amount of information needs to be what a ''reasonable'' patient think appropriate; therefore we tested patients' responses to three levels of information: ''full'' disclosure, ''standard'' disclosure (ns contained in our leaflet) and ''minimal'' disclosure. Forty-five patients scheduled to undergo cardiac surgery were enrolled in the study, None of the information sheets caused a significant change in state anxiety score and only the ''full'' disclosure significantly increased knowledge about anaesthesia (P = 0.016). All leaflets were easy to understand, When only one leaflet was provided 64-73% of patients thought the content was ''just right'', whereas when all three leaflets were viewed together 63% of patients thought the ''minimal'' leaflet withheld too much information.