SynthesisBMC medical ethics2021
Digital tools in the informed consent process: a systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC medical ethics, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
74 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Non-empirical methods for ethics research on digital technologies in medicine, health care and public health: a systematic journal review.Medicine, health care, and philosophy · 2024Pooled it
- The use of e-consent in surgery and application to neurosurgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Acta neurochirurgica · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A randomized control trial of re-designed and shorter research informed consent forms to improve comprehension.Clinical trials (London, England) · 2026Trial
- Effect of a Multimedia-Assisted Informed Consent Procedure on the Information Gain of Patients Undergoing Mastectomy and Implant-Based Reconstruction.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2026Trial
- Audiovisual Augmentation of Electronic Consent to Improve Consent Rates and Comprehension: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Short-Form Video Informed Consent Compared With Written Consent for Adolescents and Young Adults: Randomized Experiment.JMIR formative research · 2024Trial
- Optimizing the consent process for emergent laparoscopic cholecystectomy using an interactive digital education platform: a randomized control trial.Surgical endoscopy · 2024Trial
- Recruiting women with ductal carcinoma in situ to a randomised controlled trial: lessons from the LORIS study.Trials · 2023Trial
- Comparison of Audiovisual and Paper-Based Materials for 1-Time Informed Consent for Research in Prison: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2022Trial
- Common Consent Elements for Research Involving Persons with Disorders of Consciousness (CCE-DOC).Neurocritical care · 2026Article
- 'A No-Brainer, but Not a Simple Decision': A Qualitative Study of Patient Experiences of Tissue Donation for Research in Rare Craniospinal Tumour Pathways.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- EBCC-15 manifesto: Removing age-related barriers to improve equity in breast cancer care.Breast (Edinburgh, Scotland) · 2026Review
- Comparing video-assisted and verbal explanations in Japanese hospital dentistry: patient evaluations in third molar extraction and medical-dental collaborative care.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2026Article
- Development of a multimedia informed consent tool for fixed prosthodontic treatment: A cognitive theory-based approach to enhance patient understanding.PEC innovation · 2026Article
- Article
- Green CKD care: 10 tips to make nephrology outpatient clinics more environmentally sustainable.Clinical kidney journal · 2026Review
- [Relevance of eHealth Literacy (eHL) for health services research and practice - Part II].Gesundheitswesen (Bundesverband der Arzte des Offentlichen Gesundheitsdienstes (Germany)) · 2026Article
- Not all information is equally important: informed consent to genetic testing for hereditary cancer.Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology · 2026Article
- Practical dilemmas and communication reconstruction of patients' right to informed consent under the Civil Code.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundProviding understandable information to patients is necessary to achieve the aims of the Informed Consent process: respecting and promoting patients' autonomy and protecting patients from harm. In recent decades, new, primarily digital technologies have been used to apply and test innovative formats of Informed Consent. We conducted a systematic review to explore the impact of using digital tools for Informed Consent in both clinical research and in clinical practice. Understanding, satisfaction and participation were compared for digital tools versus the non-digital Informed Consent process.
methodsWe searched for studies on available electronic databases, including Pubmed, EMBASE, and Cochrane. Studies were identified using specific Mesh-terms/keywords. We included studies, published from January 2012 to October 2020, that focused on the use of digital Informed Consent tools for clinical research, or clinical procedures. Digital interventions were defined as interventions that used multimedia or audio-video to provide information to patients. We classified the interventions into 3 different categories: video only, non-interactive multimedia, and interactive multimedia.
resultsOur search yielded 19,579 publications. After title and abstract screening 100 studies were retained for full-text analysis, of which 73 publications were included. Studies examined interactive multimedia (29/73), non-interactive multimedia (13/73), and videos (31/73), and most (34/38) studies were conducted on adults. Innovations in consent were tested for clinical/surgical procedures (26/38) and clinical research (12/38). For research IC, 21 outcomes were explored, with a positive effect on at least one of the studied outcomes being observed in 8/12 studies. For clinical/surgical procedures 49 outcomes were explored, and 21/26 studies reported a positive effect on at least one of the studied outcomes.
conclusionsDigital technologies for informed consent were not found to negatively affect any of the outcomes, and overall, multimedia tools seem desirable. Multimedia tools indicated a higher impact than videos only. Presence of a researcher may potentially enhance efficacy of different outcomes in research IC processes. Studies were heterogeneous in design, making evaluation of impact challenging. Robust study design including standardization is needed to conclusively assess impact.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.