SynthesisAnnals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England2025
Role of procedure-specific consent forms in clinical practice: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ethical and Linguistic Quality of Participant Information Sheets and Their Association with Recruitment Outcomes : An Empirical Bioethics Study of Clinical Trials.Journal of bioethical inquiry · 2026Article
- Integration of robotics as standard surgical procedure during residency training for visceral surgery using a balanced scorecard (BSC).Journal of robotic surgery · 2025Article
- Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.Advances in ophthalmology practice and researchArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionConsent forms play an active role in the consent process with generic, handwritten consent forms (GCF) often the standard across the National Health Service. Increasingly, procedure-specific consent forms (PSCF) are being used as an alternative. However, concerns remain about whether they meet the standard for consent. We therefore conducted a systematic review with the objectives of investigating evidence for PSCF, study methodology and medicolegal criteria.
methodsThis systematic review was prospectively registered on PROSPERO (CRD42023392693) and conducted from 1 January 1990 to 17 March 2023 using the MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, CENTRAL and Emcare databases. A grey literature search was also performed. All studies evaluating PSCF in medical and surgical settings were included. Risk-of-bias analysis was performed using 'RoB 2' and 'ROBINS-I'. Meta-analysis was not possible because of the results' heterogeneity.
findingsWe identified 21 studies investigating PSCF with no systematic reviews and meta-analyses reported. Most studies were quality improvement projects (
conclusionsThe heterogeneous evidence available merely demonstrates superior documentation of PSCF compared with GCF. Studies do not adequately investigate the impact on informed consent and fail to address the associated legal concerns. Further randomised studies with patient-centric outcomes and consideration for medicolegal criteria are needed.
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