Simplify, no matter how much it hurts

Writers will tell you it is much harder to write simply than it is to sound brilliant. When writing consent forms, the risk manager should use the most basic, widely known terms instead of those that sound needlessly impressive or academic.

The University of Illinois at Chicago’s Office for Protection of Research Subjects has recommendations for writing consent forms clearly. Much of the advice can be found on-line at www.uic.edu/depts/ovcr/oprs/Forms/consent.html. Here are some of the school’s recommendations for choosing words carefully:

Instead of:	Try:
acute	recent, sudden

adverse effect	bad side effect

assay	lab test

benign	usually without serious consequences

bolus	an amount given all at once

carcinogenic	capable of causing cancer

catheter	a tube for withdrawing or introducing fluids

chronic	continuing for a long time

clinical trial	an experiment with patients

controlled trial	a study in which the experimental procedures are compared to a standard (accepted) treatment or procedure

culture	test for infection, or organ isms that could cause infection

diagnostic instrument	questions

double blind	study in which neither investigators nor subjects know which drug the sub ject is receiving

dysplasia	abnormal cells

edema	increased fluid

efficacy	effectiveness

extravasate	to leak outside of a blood vessel

hematoma	a bruise, a black and blue mark

heparin lock	needle placed in the arm with blood thinner to keep the blood from clotting

monitor	check on, keep track of, watch carefully

morbidity	undesired result or complication

mortality	death or death rate

necrosis	death of tissue

oncology	the study of tumors or cancer

percutaneous	through the skin

placebo	a substance of no medical value, an inactive substance

PRN	as needed

protocol	plan of study

random	by chance, like the flip of a coin

relapse	return of a disease

retrospective	looking back over past experience