Perceived understanding of informed consent among PG students and patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries in a selected hospital

Abstract

Informed consent was developed as an ethical guideline 150 years ago. The concept began to take shape in 1914, when U.S. Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo stated, “Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body, and a surgeon who performs an operation without his patient’s consent commits an assault for which he is liable.” Whatever we believe informed consent embodies, it has become first and foremost a legal system document designed to protect the patient from the physician. The quality of the administration of informed consent determines whether it is used as a prosecutorial or defense weapon in legal proceedings. Informed consent has evolved over the past 85 years to its current standardized form. Physicians contemplating surgical intervention are required to disclose a description of the problem and its natural history. They must explain the proposed treatment and alternatives to treatment. Risks general to the surgery and specific to the patient are to be delineated. Finally, outcome probabilities and postoperative expectations must be discussed. Purpose: The main aim of the study was to know the perceived understanding of informed consent among PG students as well as among Patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries. Method: A descriptive survey design was used for the study. A dyad sample of PG students and patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries participated in this study. Samples were selected through purposive sampling technique. Data was collected from PG students by administering a rating scale on perceived understanding of informed consent, and the data from patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries was collected by using structured interview techniques with the help of rating scale. Results: The study result showed that 84% of the PG students and 40% of the patients undergoing major abdominal surgeries were having good perceived understanding about informed consent.