Anticipatory guidance to improve informed consent: a new application of the concept.

Although the concept of anticipatory guidance has long been used in general pediatrics to help prepare parents for what to expect in the coming months or year, this educational concept has not been transplanted for use in other contexts. The intervention described in this article uses the principles of anticipatory guidance in an effort to prepare parents of children with newly diagnosed acute leukemia for their upcoming discussions with their child's physician. Parents of children recently diagnosed with leukemia frequently feel overwhelmed and are anxious to discover what can be done to cure their child. By using the abilities of already medically trained oncology nurses and orienting them to conduct an intervention to educate, (empathize) emphasize, and prepare parents for the informed consent conference, this anticipatory guidance-based intervention was designed to target barriers to effective communication and increase the interactivity between families and health care providers.