Ersin Gürkan DUMLU, Mehmet KILIÇ, Levent ÖZTÜRK, Mehmet TOKAÇ, Ömer PARLAK, Abdussamed YALÇIN

Healthy subjects' knowledge of surgical complications: a hospital-based survey

Background/aim: There is an ongoing debate about how much a patient should know about serious or frequently occurring risks oftheir surgery. In this study, we evaluated healthy subjects perspectives on knowledge of serious surgical complications. Materials and methods: Three hundred and thirty healthy subjects (151 women, 179 men; mean age: 43.6 ± 17.3 years) were surveyedwith the study questionnaire. Social profile, surgical history of the healthy subjects, and presence of a relative while giving preoperativeconsent were assessed. Results: Only 23.5% (39/166) of the subjects were informed about all the potential complications of their previous surgical operationand 44.9% (73/166) did not get any preoperative consent on surgical complications. A statistically significant percentage of subjects whodid not get proper information about the serious complications involved in their surgery indicated a desire for preoperative informedconsent (97.0%, 128/132, P = 0.0001). Conclusion: The results indicated that a significant percentage of the subjects wanted to be informed of the potential complications of asurgery in the presence of a relative (73.9%, 192/260, P = 0.009). Involving a relative in preoperative consent may have a positive effecton the patient and can increase the level of postoperative recall of the risks.

PDF

___

1. General Medical Council. Seeking Patients Consent: The Ethical Considerations. London, UK: General Medical Council; 1998.
2. General Medical Council. Consent: Patients and Doctors Making Decisions Together. London, UK: General Medical Council.
3. Lloyd A, Hayes P, Bell PR, Naylor AR. The role of risk and benefit perception in informed consent for surgery. Med Decis Making 2001; 21: 141149.
4. Anderson OA, Wearne IM. Informed consent for elective surgerywhat is best practice? J R Soc Med 2007; 100: 97100.
5. Jawaid M, Farhan M, Masood Z, Husnain S. Preoperative informed consent: is it truly informed? Iran J Public Health 2012; 41: 2530.
6. Liddle C. Preparing patients to undergo surgery. Nurs Times 2012; 108: 1213.
7. Cawich SO, Barnett AT, Crandon IW, Drew SD, Gordon- Strachan G. From the patients perspective: is there a need to improve the quality of informed consent for surgery in training hospitals? Perm J 2013; 17: 2226.
8. Siegal G, Bonnie RJ, Appelbaum PS. Personalized disclosure by information-on-demand: attending to patients needs in the informed consent process. J Law Med Ethics 2012; 40: 359 367.
9. Smith HK, Manjaly JG, Yousri T, Upadhyay N, Taylor H, Nicol SG, Livingstone JA. Informed consent in trauma: does written information improve patient recall of risks? A prospective randomised study. Injury 2012; 43: 15341538.
10. Sheth A. Informed consent in clinical practice. J Postgrad Med 2003; 49: 287288.
11. Şahin N, Öztürk A, Özkan Y, Demirhan Erdemir A. What do patients recall from informed consent given before orthopedic surgery? Acta Orthop Traumatol Turc 2010; 44: 469475.
12. Parzeller M, Wenk M, Zedler B. Patient information and informed consent before and after medical intervention. Dtsch Arztebl 2007; 104: A576586.
13. Weinstein JN, Clay K, Morgan TS. Informed patient choice: patient-centered valuing of surgical risks and benefits. Health Affair 2007; 26: 726730.
14. Fusetti C, Lazzaro M, Trobia M, Lucchina S, Petri J, Garavaglia G. Patients point of view on informed consent: a prospective study in carpal tunnel surgery. Am J Orthop (Belle Mead NJ) 2013; 42: E111115.
15. Crepeau AE, McKinney BI, Fox-Ryvicker M, Castelli J, Penna J, Wang ED. Prospective evaluation of patient comprehension of informed consent. J Bone Joint Surg Am 2011; 93: e114.
16. Mayberry MK, Mayberry JF. Towards better informed consent in endoscopy: a study of information and consent processes in gastroscopy and flexible sigmoidoscopy. Eur J Gastroeneterol Hepatol 2001; 13: 14671476.
17. Burkle CM, Pasternak JJ, Armstrong MH, Keegan MT. Patient perspectives on informed consent for anaesthesia and surgery: American attitudes. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand 2013; 57: 342 349.
18. McKeaugue M, Windsor J. Patients perception of the adequacy of informed consent: a pilot study of elective general surgical patients in Auckland. New Zeal Med J 2003; 116: U355.
19. Hekkenberg RJ, Irish JC, Rotstein LE, Brown DH, Gullane PJ. Informed consent in head and neck surgery: how much do patients actually remember? J Otolaryngol 1997; 26: 155159.