Hi gardervillian,
I have worked with scores of patients that don?t easily understand, or
misinterpret medical discharge instructions. Because medical language
sounds so understandable to us, we at times forget to make things
clear for lay folks. I have even found that it?s important to tell
parents to poke holes with a fork in a disposable diaper BEFORE
placing the diaper on the baby! (For diaper rash). I commend you for
wanting to make your consent form more understandable, and I hope I
have done so.
I ran this form by my 5 ½ year old granddaughter after I explained
what colonoscopy was. As an Animal Planet fan, she has seen more than
her share of medical procedures, has seen actual x-rays and likes
medical ?stuff?. She seemed to understand most of this ?translation?,
so I feel sure a fourth grader would understand this. (Terms she
missed were ?groggy? ?polyps? ?barium enema? and ?CO2?)
About Virtual Colonoscopy
Virtual Colonoscopy is a long word that describes the test doctors use
to look inside your large intestine, or bowel. By peeking inside your
bowel, growths like poyps and cancers can be found, letting your
doctor find the best way to care for you. (Polyps are small growths in
your bowel that look like little mushrooms, that can turn into
cancer). A scanner will take picture images of the inside of your
bowel (colon) so any problems can be clearly seen. Sometimes, other
problems can be seen with this test.(1) Your results will describe
everything seen in this test, and a full report will be sent to the
doctor who asked you to have this test done.
Until Virtual Colonoscopy, regular colonoscopy was used. Regular
colonoscopy was, and still is a very good way for doctors to see
inside your bowel. With regular colonoscopy, a tube would be placed
into the part of your bottom called the rectum. The doctor could see
any growths or polyps, and take them out, with tiny instruments, at
the same time. With regular colonoscopy, you would need to take a
medicine, called a sedative. The sedative would make your body
relaxed, or can cause you to get very sleepy. There are some dangers
with the regular colonoscopy: There is a chance that the bowl could
get a small tear or hole in it during the test (perforation).
Sometimes the sedative takes a long time to wear off after the test is
over, making you drowsy and groggy. Before a regular colonoscopy, you
would have to have a thick, chalky looking liquid put into your bottom
(rectum) with a small tube. This is called a barium enema, and it
helps the doctors see your bowel better in the x-rays (pictures).
With the new Virtual Colonoscopy, you will not need to have any
sedatives, and you won?t feel groggy or sleepy after the test. The
Virtual Colonoscopy is better than the regular colonoscopy for finding
growths and cancers in your bowel, and you are exposed to less
radiation that with regular colonoscopy.
Getting Ready for the Test
One day before the test, start getting your bowel ready! Eat what is
called a ?Low residue diet? This means not eating foods like raw or
fried vegetables, popcorn, nuts, etc. You may eat foods like well
boiled vegetables, eggs and ice cream. (2) You?ll need to drink plenty
of water and other liquids, along with the laxative your doctor gave
you to help clean out your bowel. It?s important to have a clean bowel
for the test, so any problem areas in your bowel can be seen easily.
Read and follow all the directions on the ?Prep Package?(3) This is
very important for an accurate test! If you do not eat a low residue
diet, take the laxatives and do everything the Prep Package says, your
test may be cancelled. If the test is cancelled, you will have to go
through the diet, laxatives, and the Prep Package again!
The Test
When the test starts, you will be placed on a scanner table, and a
small plastic tube, about the size of a pencil, will be gently put in
your bottom (rectum). A technician will put air with Carbon Dioxide
(CO2) into the tube, causing your bowel to inflate a little. This air
and CO2 will cause any polyps to stand out, so they can be seen
easily. You may feel very full at this point, but this feeling won?t
last very long. The air and gas are absorbed by the body very quickly.
The scan will begin and will last about 10 minutes. You will be
scanned lying on your back, and again, lying on your stomach. When the
scan stops, the technician will ask you to go into the bathroom where
you can relax, and let the gas out.
Consent(Permission) for the Virtual Colonoscopy Test
The Dangers, Risks and Complications of the VC Test:
This test is very safe, but it might cause your stomach area to feel
full and bloated. You may even get some stomach pains (cramps) right
after the air and gas is put in your bowel. The full feeling won?t
last long, and the pain should be mild.
There is a small danger of a tear in the bowel wall, but the chance of
this happening with a VC test is much smaller than with a regular
colonoscopy.
The VC test does not look at the last few inches of your bowel. This
part of your bowel (colon) is best looked at by your doctor, in
her/his office. Very small polyps, less than a quarter of an inch in
size, are not easily seen by your doctor?s naked eye, but these small
polyps usually don?t turn into cancer.
Even though the VC test is very good at finding growths and polyps in
the bowel (colon) it sometimes misses lesions that might have been
found with regular colonoscopy. Sometimes regular colonoscopy misses
lesions that are found with VC. Even though both kinds of colonoscopy
are very good, sometimes lesions and growths can be missed -- neither
test is 100% accurate
By signing my name below, it means I have read and understand
everything on this (4) information sheet about Virtual Colonoscopy. I
understand the dangers and risks of the test, the complications that
might happen, that I could have had a regular colonoscopy instead of a
virtual colonoscopy, and that no test will find problems 100% of the
time.
(1) Not part of the ?translation? but it would be nice to give an idea
of what other problems could be found, such as ?Sometimes, other
problems, like ulcers that bleed, may be found with this test?. I?ve
worked with patients who might infer that ?other problems? meant you
could diagnose a brain tumor, or an arthritic knee from this
procedure.
(2) I assume you are giving the patient a separate sheet with the LP
diet, but I put in a few examples for continuity here.
(3) Dulcolax, suppositories, enema ? (I would have explained a bit
more here had I know all your details)
(4) Is THIS the information sheet?
If I could make one suggestion on this form, it would be to group the
differences in procedures together. For example, when stating that the
regular colonoscopy requires use of a sedative, I would include at
that point that VC does not. Where the barium enema is explained, I
would explain at that point that VC does not require it. It is my
experience that most patients understand ?intestine? and even ?bowel?
before they understand clearly ?colon?. You might also consider
clearly explaining the proper use of suppositories too!
I hope this translation is satisfactory to you, gardnervillian, as it
was an enjoyable task for me. If any part of this consent form needs
to be ?tweaked?, please request an Answer Clarification, before
rating. This will allow me to assist you further, if possible.
Regards,
crabcakes-ga |
