Abstract
BackgroundA properly conducted surgical informed consent process (SIC) allows patients to authorize an invasive procedure with full comprehension of relevant information including involved risks. Current practice of SIC may differ from the ideal situation. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether SIC practiced by Dutch general surgeons and residents is adequate with involvement of all required elements.MethodsAll members of the Dutch Society of Surgery received an online multiple choice questionnaire evaluating various aspects of SIC.ResultsA total of 453 questionnaires obtained from surgeons and residents representing >95% of all Dutch hospitals were eligible for analysis (response rate 30%). Knowledge on SIC was limited as only 55% was familiar with all three basic elements (‘assessment of preconditions’, ‘provision of information’ and ‘stage of consent’). Residents performance was inferior compared to surgeons regarding most aspects of daily practice of SIC. One in 6 surgeons (17%) had faced a SIC-related complaint in the previous five years possibly illustrating suboptimal SIC implementation in daily surgical practice.ConclusionsThe quality of the current SIC process is far from optimal in the Netherlands. Surgical residents require training aimed at improving awareness and skills. The SIC process is ideally supported using modern tools including web-based interactive programs. Improvement of the SIC process may enhance patient satisfaction and may possibly reduce the number of complaints.
Highlights
A properly conducted surgical informed consent process (SIC) allows patients to authorize an invasive procedure with full comprehension of relevant information including involved risks
The aim of this study is to evaluate the reported daily practice of Dutch surgeons and residents regarding characteristics of the SIC process
Representativeness Questionnaires were received from 96% (90/94) of all public hospitals and from four private ones
Summary
A properly conducted surgical informed consent process (SIC) allows patients to authorize an invasive procedure with full comprehension of relevant information including involved risks. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether SIC practiced by Dutch general surgeons and residents is adequate with involvement of all required elements. It is common surgical practice to provide patients with the opportunity to consent to an operative procedure. A surgical informed consent process (SIC) is considered a conditional element of standard surgical patient care. Training of residents may vary as considerable geographical differences in knowledge were found [14,23]. Whether these shortcomings are present in the Netherlands is unknown
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