Quality of an informed consent prior to a surgical intervention? Experience of a teaching hospital

Objective: To determine how far the information given by the physicians for the informed consent prior to the surgical intervention is comprehended by the patients.

Methods: The study was carried out between July 1st, 2012 and July 1st, 2013 at Gulhane Medical Faculty. A total of 400 patients, who were in the third postoperative day after various surgical procedures (orthopedics, urology, ophthalmology, plastic surgery and breast surgery), were included in the study.

Results: Of all the patients, 73.5% stated that the operative information was provided by physicians, whereas 22.7% claimed that no information was given in this regard. The patients who knew the name of the disease was 78%, while 18.3% did not know. Of all the patients, 25.7% knew the name of the operation, in contrast to of 52.3% who did not know it. About 12.5% of patients stated that they were not informed about the likely complications during the surgery, whereas 13.7% of patients reported that they were not informed about the post-operative complications.

Conclusion: The verbal information and the written texts, different approaches such as drawings and visual materials (i.e. video’s and photographs) should be considered while providing information to the patients. While doing so the level of education of the community should also be taken into account.