Informed consent training improves surgery resident performance in simulated encounters with standardized patients.

Background: Although informed consent is vital to patient-physician communication, little training is provided to surgical trainees. We hypothesized that highlighting critical aspects of informed consent would improve resident performance.

Methods: Eighty (out of 88) surgical postgraduate year 1 surgical residents were randomly assigned to one of the 2 cases (laparoscopic cholecystectomy or ventral herniorrhaphy) and instructed to obtain and document informed consent with a standardized patient (SP) followed by a didactic training session.