The origin of information: are IUGA-specific patient information leaflets the answer?

In contemporary practice, patients should be partners in their care; unfortunately, we frequently find patients with unclear information regarding their conditions. A total of 458 consecutive patients attending urology outpatient clinics were asked to complete a standardised questionnaire regarding their knowledge of their conditions and whether they had attempted to enhance this knowledge and if so, via which sources. Patient's knowledge was assessed using a visual analogue scale of 1-10 Mean score given for patients' knowledge of their condition was 5/10. 19.5% of patients sought no further information, whereas the remaining patients' sources of information varied from primary care physicians (44.5%), Internet (23%), and other sources (13%). Our study highlights a worrying lack of patients' knowledge of their condition and illustrates the need for standardisation of patients' information resources. We recommend the development of internationally approved IUGA patient information leaflets to provide clear up-to-date information to our urogynecology patients.