Kate Telma, MD, a PGY-2 vascular surgery resident, has been selected by the American College of Surgeons to receive a Resident Research Scholarship for the 2025-2027 award cycle. This two-year, $60,000 scholarship is supported by the generosity of Fellows, Chapters, and friends of the ACS, to encourage residents to pursue careers in academic surgery anywhere on the research continuum.
Working under the mentorship of Gretchen Schwarze, MD, MPP, the Morgridge Professor in Vascular Surgery, Dr. Telma’s research project titled “Better Conversations for Better Informed Consent: A Pilot Study to Automate Surgeon Training and Evaluate Patient Reported Outcomes” aims to address the shortcomings of the informed consent process.
“I am honored to have received the ACS resident research scholarship,” Dr. Telma said. “The chance to work with Dr. Schwarze was a major influence on my decision to train at UW. My hope is that our project, Better Conversations for Better Informed Consent, will transform how we as a field talk to patients about undertaking major surgeries.”
Each year approximately 15 million patients will have surgery in the United States. Informed consent is required prior to nearly all surgical procedures, but patients often struggle to recall what their surgeon told them, are overwhelmed by the experience of surgery, and/or express regret after surgery. Prior strategies to improve consent have targeted surgeon performance with improvements in patient engagement, information transfer, and shared decision-making, but these have failed to meet the needs of patients, surgeons, and healthcare organizations.
Previous research conducted by Dr. Schwarze and her colleagues has found that surgeons discuss surgery using an overly complicated technical description of the patient’s disease and treatment, and an overly simplified narrative that surgery will fix the patient’s problem. This both neglects the patient’s goal for surgery and can lead to misunderstanding.
To better support patients and families, Dr. Schwarze and her team have developed a novel framework, called Better Conversations, which includes a clear description of what surgery might accomplish for the patient by specifically naming one of four goals of surgery: to help the patient live longer, feel better, prevent a disability, or make a diagnosis. Surgeons can then present a comprehensive explanation of the downsides of surgery in close juxtaposition to its goals, to create a deliberative space for patients to consider whether surgery is worth it for them. For her ACS-funded research project, Dr. Telma will be evaluating a training program for Better Conversations here at the UW, with the goal of using this training in larger health system settings.
Dr. Telma and Dr. Schwarze will work with surgeons across divisions during this two-year long project. In October 2027, Dr. Telma will attend the ACS Clinical Congress to present her research to the Scholarships Committee.