Australia & New Zealand Society of Vascular Surgeons

Using the power of the internet as an adjunct to the surgical consultation allows the surgeon to provide a consistent and reproducible method for informing patients about their surgical procedures. Electronically a document can be created specific to the needs of each patient – outlining information with respect to their surgical risk, DVT risk, and anaesthetic risk and costs associated with the procedure. This document is different for each patient. This interactive approach can assess the patients understanding of the material presented and provides an electronic record of what information is provided to patients and when – important for any potential future litigation. The same principles, applied to hospital or private practice, allows consistent staff training and education, surgical audit and monitoring of patient satisfaction. The creation of a ‘live’ document electronically is the way of the future and over time will make paper based consent systems redundant.