Varicose Vein Education and Informed coNsent (VVEIN) study: a randomised controlled pilot feasibility study

Pilot and Feasibility Studies

Study Protocol

Fiona Boland¹  Frank Doyle²  Daragh Moneley³  Aoife Kiernan⁴  Denis W. Harkin⁵ 

[1] Data Science Centre, School of Population Health, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Health Psychology, School of Population Health, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Vascular Surgery, Bon Secours Health System, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Vascular Surgery, Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland;Strategic Academic Research (StAR) Programme, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Vascular Surgery, Bon Secours Health System, Dublin, Ireland;Strategic Academic Research (StAR) Programme, Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Vascular Surgery, Bon Secours Health System, Dublin, Ireland;Department of Medical Professionalism, RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland;

关键词: Consent;    Digital consent;    Health education tool;    Endovenous thermal ablation;    Vascular surgery;    Venous disease;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40814-023-01336-9

 received in 2022-04-04, accepted in 2023-06-07,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

IntroductionDoctors have a legal requirement and duty of care to ensure patients are enabled to make an informed decision about their treatment, including discussion of the benefits, risks and alternatives to a procedure. A patient-centred approach to consent has been firmly established in Ireland, and fundamental to this is the ability to engage in a dialogue that offers comprehensible information to patients. Telemedicine has revolutionised the way we can deliver care to patients in the modern era of computers, tablets, and smartphones, and its use has been rapidly expanded. Novel digital strategies to improve the informed consent process for surgical procedures have been increasingly under investigation over the last 10–15 years and may offer a low cost, accessible and tailored solution to consent for surgical interventions. Within vascular surgery, superficial venous interventions have been associated with a high number medicolegal claims and also represents an area within the specialty with rapidly evolving technology and techniques. The ability to communicate comprehensible information to patients has never been greater. Thus, the author’s aim is to explore whether it is feasible and acceptable to deliver a digital health education intervention to patients undergoing endovenous thermal ablation (EVTA) to supplement the consent process.MethodsThis is a prospective, single centre, randomised controlled, feasibility trial recruiting patients with chronic venous disease deemed suitable to undergo EVTA. Patients will be randomised to receive either standard consent (SC) or a newly developed digital health education tool (dHET). The primary outcome is feasibility; assessing the recruitment and retention rate of participants and assessing acceptability of the intervention. Secondary outcomes include knowledge retention, anxiety and satisfaction. This feasibility trial is designed to recruit 40 patients, which will allow for a moderate dropout rate. This pilot study will inform the authors of the appropriateness of an adequately powered multicentre trial.DiscussionTo examine the role of a digital consent solution for EVTA. This may improve and standardise the consent dialogue with patients and may have the potential to reduce claims related to poor consent processes and disclosure of risks.Ethical committee referenceEthical approval has been sought and received from both the Bon Secours Hospital and RCSI (202109017), on 14 May 2021 and 10 October 2021, respectively.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05261412, registered on 1 March 2022

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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