AB136. Assessing patient satisfaction with pre-operative written information leaflets for endocrine surgery procedures at Cork University Hospital

Background: The National Consent Policy 2019 encourages written information to be provided where possible to patients undergoing interventional procedures. We designed a quality improvement project to assess patient satisfaction with information leaflets in patients undergoing elective endocrine surgery procedures.

Methods: Patients undergoing elective thyroid, parathyroid and adrenal surgery were provided with comprehensive information leaflets at pre-operative assessment detailing the indications for as well as the risks, benefits and alternatives to surgery and also information on expected post-operative course. Participants were asked to fill out an anonymous survey the morning of their operation after providing written consent. Results were collated using the SPSS statistical analysis programme.

Results: Twenty patients completed the survey of which 80% were female. Mean age was 53 years. Secondary school education was the highest level attained by 65% of patients. All participants read the leaflets. Eighty-five percent reported reading them in detail and 100% reported finding the information useful and easy to understand. 70% found the leaflets made them less anxious for surgery. Ninety-five percent felt they knew enough about the operation to give informed consent and 90% reported that verbal information alone would have been insufficient. Patient satisfaction with information about post- operative care was on average less that satisfaction with information about the surgery (mean 3.9/5 versus 4.65/5), and a few suggestions for improvement were offered by patients.

Conclusions: Written information leaflets provided pre-operatively can reduce patient anxiety and assist both clinicians and patients in providing informed consent for endocrine surgery procedures.

Keywords: Endocrine surgery; information leaflets; patient satisfaction