The requirements of the physician’s duty to inform are rising steadily. Legislators and case law demand comprehensible, individual and documented information for the patient before a medical measure may be carried out. In a tightly scheduled hospital or practice routine, this is often difficult to achieve.

Digital tools – especially individualised patient education videos – offer a concrete solution here. They enable standardised, quality-assured and at the same time patient-specific delivery of information that is not only more robust legally but also conserves resources.

This article explains why digital patient education not only saves medical staff time, but also creates a sound basis for informed consent under the ABGB (Austria) and the BGB (Germany).

Under Section 630e of the German Civil Code (BGB) and Section 252 of the Austrian General Civil Code (ABGB), no medical procedure may take place without prior consent that the patient has individually understood. The patient information must be:

  • personal (no standard texts without relevance)
  • comprehensible (adapted to language, education, health literacy)
  • timely and oral
  • fully documented

Standard forms and pre-formulated texts cannot meet these requirements on their own, as numerous court decisions show. A typical mistake: handing over a consent form across the board without an in-depth discussion or an individual risk assessment.

This is where digital solutions come in – they standardise the process but individualise the content.

Individualised patient education videos: comprehensibility meets patient-centred care

Modern patient education tools such as medudoc make it possible to create patient-specific videos tailored to:

  • the specific diagnosis,
  • the specific procedure,
  • individual risk factors (e.g. pre-existing conditions),
  • the chosen language
  • and the desired level of detail.

The result: a patient-specific explanatory video that is made available to the patient before the personal discussion – by link, tablet or portal, as preferred.

  • Individual duty to inform fulfilled: the content of the video is tailored to the patient’s case, documented and archived.
  • Comprehensibility ensured: the visual and linguistically simplified presentation considerably reduces misunderstandings.
  • Stronger evidence: the time of access, viewing duration and consent are recorded digitally – a strong building block in the event of a liability claim.

Under the EU eIDAS Regulation and national requirements (e.g. GDPR, § 51 of the Austrian Physicians Act (ÄrzteG)), digital documentation and signatures are fully legally valid under certain conditions. A qualified electronic signature can replace handwritten signatures in a legally sound way – for example in remote consent discussions as part of telemedicine.

Time savings for physicians – focus on what matters

In conventional patient education, physicians explain the standard content in the discussion – regardless of how familiar or interested the patient is. At University Hospital Würzburg, conventional consent took a median of 8.1 minutes of physician discussion time before cholecystectomy and 11.9 minutes before colon resection (Leicht et al., World J Surg 2026).

With video-based patient education, the information process shifts to the preparation phase. Patients receive the material early, can watch it several times, discuss it with relatives if necessary and prepare specific questions.

A prospective study at University Hospital Würzburg measured how large the effect is (Leicht et al., World J Surg 2026; 50(10): 2866):

  • 81% less physician discussion time before cholecystectomy (median from 8.1 to 1.5 minutes)
  • 72% less physician discussion time before colon resection (median from 11.9 to 3.3 minutes)
  • High understanding and high satisfaction among patients in both groups

As a result, the physician’s discussion can focus on clinically decisive aspects: individual risks, surgical alternatives, decision-making. This leaves more time and care for complex cases – without neglecting routine patient education.

Video on YouTube: Mona Ciotta: personalised medical patient education videos with medudoc

Integration into existing hospital workflows

Digital patient education can now be integrated into existing systems without difficulty:

  • medudoc offers API interfaces and HL7-compatible modules for connecting to HIS/PMS.
  • Signatures can be obtained digitally on a tablet or remotely (via two-factor authentication).
  • Documentation is automated, including time stamp, content, signature, device verification and archiving.

Especially in facilities with high staff turnover or changing specialists, this structure ensures standardised legal certainty – regardless of who informs the patient in an individual case.

Conclusion: digital patient education is more than an efficiency tool – it is a quality standard

The combination of individual communication, standardised quality and legally sound documentation makes digital patient education a mark of quality in everyday medical practice.

For medical professionals in particular, it is the answer to growing requirements in:

  • Legal compliance
  • Patient loyalty
  • Liability minimisation
  • Process efficiency

The aim is not to replace the physician’s discussion, but to enhance it: through targeted preparation, better-informed patients and structured conversations.