Informed consent practice and factors affecting the process for surgical procedures among Physicians in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Informed consent is essential in all patient-physician relationships and is more than simply paperwork. It should be understood as an ongoing bidirectional process of communication and education with the patient or surrogate that continue through the medical care. Studies indicate that the use of Surgical Informed Practice in surgical practice is still not at its optimum level. Objectives To assess surgical informed consent practice and factors affecting the process for surgical procedures among Physicians at St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September to November 2022. Methods A cross sectional analytic study was used to assess level of Surgical informed practice among surgical and residents and associated factors. An online survey was conducted using Google form from August 2022 to September 2023. All 484 surgical consultants and residents were invited with their respective department’s Telegram group. Binary logistic regression analysis was employed. The selection of variables was made by backward elimination and then the selected variables were included in the final multivariate logistic regression model. The adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval and P-value < 0.05 was used to determine the magnitude of the association and statistical significance. Result: A total of 154 questionnaires were completed from consultants and residents with a response rate of 32%. Two-third (66.6%) practiced proper informed consent during major surgical procedures. Among the respondents, only 33.3% had good knowledge about the informed consent process. Above five years of working experience (AOR= 4.25, 95% CI= 1.68, 10.75) and training (AOR= 2.52, 95% CI= 1.04, 6.08) on SIC were statistically, and positively associated with satisfactory knowledge of Surgical Informed Practice. Moreover, those who are married (AOR= 2.39, 95% CI= 1.09, 5.23) and satisfactory Surgical Informed Practice knowledge (AOR= 3.37, 95% CI= 1.39, 8.15) were significantly associated with good informed consent practice. Conclusion The practice of informed consent process is suboptimal. The SIC process may be enhanced by giving physicians with training aimed at improving their understanding and properly structuring the procedure.