An information leaflet for surgical patients.

This study set out to quantify the information which is given to surgical patients. It also set out to discover what information patients felt was important. The group studied were all patients who had recently undergone transurethral resection of the prostate. Eighty two per cent would have liked to have been given the information leaflet to read before their operation. The piece of information most patients wanted was the estimated length of stay in hospital (83%). Patients under seventy years old wanted to discuss the effect of the operation on their sex lives (79%). It is concluded that information leaflets are appreciated by patients and should be more widely used.