Electronic Surgical Consent Delivery via Patient Portal

Abstract

We read with interest "Electronic Surgical Consent Delivery via Patient Portal to Improve Perioperative Efficiency" in this issue of JAMA Surgery. 1 Trang and colleagues present a singleinstitution study that compares patient characteristics and efficiency metrics in 17 953 patients who signed electronic surgical consent (eConsent), 3225 (18%) of which were signed via the patient portal prior to surgery. The investigators found that eConsent was well accepted and improved perioperative efficiency.The necessary elements for the informed consent process have been outlined by US federal requirements. 2 These criteria underscore the importance of capacity, disclosure, understanding, and voluntariness to informed consent. As part of every elective procedure, the consent process is an illustrative use case for evaluating digital health technologies. However, the value added lies in key details of implementation and assessment.