Patient knowledge, Attitude, and Perception towards Legal Nature of Informed Written Consent Practice in SPHMMC on February 1-March 30, 2018 GC

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: The practice of informed consent prior to any surgical procedure should form the fundamental element that serves to protect both patient and surgeon from prosecution. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and perceptions towards the legal nature of informed consent after surgery before discharge in the different surgical department units in St Pauls’ Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Materials and Methods: This was a cross‑sectional study aimed to conduct on 420 but only 385 patients agreed and interviewed. This respondents were undergone surgery at the different surgical department units in St Paul Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Data was obtained following surgery but prior to discharge and was analyzed using SPSS version 21. Results were displayed in tables. Results: The plan was to collect 420 but only 385 responders agreed and interviewed. The response rate is 91.1 %. The mean age was 40.40.26+/- 15 years. Despite the legal importance of the consent and its presence in the signed documents as a standard procedure yet only 316(82.1%) agreed on the necessity of signing informed consent. Only 9 (2.3%) said it is not necessary and the rest 60 (15.6%) had no idea on the necessity of signing written informed consent. The majority of patients 256(66.5%) didn’t know their operating surgeon. The rest 129(33.5%) of patients knew their operating surgeon. A large number 336(87.3%) of patients knew the reason they were operated. The rest 49(12.7%) didn’t know the reason for their surgery. Only 160(41.6%) patients understand the type of surgery done for them, the other 225(58.4%) patients they didn’t know what was done during surgery. Less than one third 120(31.2%) of patients thought it would remove their compensation if any wrong procedures were done during surgery, only 60(15.6%) believed they would be compensated and the majority of them 205(53.2%) had no idea of compensation. Conclusion: There exists a vast discrepancy between the informed consent that the patient aware of, understood and perceived. Hence current consent procedures seem inadequate. Key Words: Attitude, consent, knowledge, understanding, perception