SummaryObjective: In Britain, consent for surgery is documented using a Department of Health form signed by the surgeon and the patient. In contrast, anaesthetic procedures have no formalised consent process. Evidence on the process of consent for regional anaesthesia, and patient perceptions of this, is scarce outside obstetric practice. We aimed to determine patient recall and perceptions of consent for interscalene brachial plexus block and compared this to surgical consent for shoulder arthroplasty. Design: Prospective observational survey. Setting: A specialist musculoskeletal centre, UK. Participants: Forty-six patients (female:male 30:16, mean age 61 years) undergoing shoulder arthroplasty with interscalene brachial plexus block. Main outcome measures: Recall and understanding of consent for regional anaesthesia and surgery was examined using a semi-structured questionnaire 1-2 days after arthroplasty. Surgical consent forms and discussions recorded by the anaesthetist were examined in participants' medical notes to compare against the level of recall. Analysis to determine statistical significance was conducted using McNemar's test. Results: Recall of surgical risks was overall significantly better than recall of brachial plexus block risks. Compared to their recollections of surgical risk, patients remembered fewer specific risks for brachial plexus block (p < 0.001). There were more patients unable to recall any risks when questioned about brachial plexus block than about their surgery (p < 0.05). One-third of patients did not regard the consent discussion about regional anaesthesia as important as consent for surgery and over one-quarter had not recognised the preoperative discussion about the brachial plexus block as a consent process similar to that conducted for surgery. Conclusions: Fundamental misunderstandings about the consent process are prevalent. Future work in this area should seek to investigate how documentation of the consent process and patients' understanding of consent for regional anaesthesia can be improved.

Despite the rise in INR after hepatectomy, VET do not show evidence of hypocoagulability. In vitro addition of FFP had no significant effect on TEG parameters. Clinical use of FFP in this situation is questionable.

Neuroimaging and behavioral studies have indicated that expertise in dance is associated with differences in the visual processing of dance movements. This study sought to determine if dance expertise was also associated with the ability to recognize visual differences between dance movements. Participants (20 dancers and 20 non-dancers) watched pairs of video clips showing dance phrases. Within each pair of phrases a manipulation was made to a single movement in the categories of shape (25%), time (25%), or space (25%), or there was no manipulation made between the two videos (25%). After viewing each pair, participants used pencil and paper to indicate if they observed a difference between the phrases and, if so, in which category. Group differences were compared for each category with four separate t-tests. Results showed that dancers were better at recognizing manipulations of space, time, and trials with no change but did not differ from non-dancers at recognizing manipulations of shape. Results are discussed in reference to the tested hypothesis that the ability and experience to produce an action is associated with enhanced perception of similar actions.

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