Connotative Quality Management for Medical Informed Consents and Notifications

Abstract

Objective. To survey the patients’ understanding of medical informed consent forms and notifications, as well as the level of understanding of their contents, so as to understand the status of information given by the medical workers to the patients and the effect achieved. Method. From July to December 2013, an anonymous survey in the form of questionnaires was conducted among 97 patients who did not have a communication barrier, who were hospitalized in our hospital and had signed the informed consents or (and) notifications. Result. A total of 62.9% (61/97) of the patients were of the opinion that the informed consent was designed to respect patient's right to choice and the right to informed consent, 29.9% (29/97) of the patients were of the opinion that the informed consent was designed so that the doctors could be cleared of responsibility, and 7.2% (7/97) of the patients considered that the medical scheme was determined by the physicians and that the informed consent was just a form. The survey revealed that 26.8% (26/97), 30.9% (30/97), (33.0%) 32/97 and 9.3% (9/97) of patients were very familiar with, basically familiar with, unfamiliar with, and totally unaware of, the contents of the signed informed consents and (or) notifications, respectively. Conclusions. One of the effective ways to reduce disputes is to improve the legal awareness of medical workers, strengthen the doctor-patient communication, and fully fulfill the informing obligation of physicians, so that patients can fully understand the possible beneficial situations and potential complications of the intended medical scheme, alternative scheme, special examination and treatment, and the risk of rejecting the medical advice.