Does the status of surgical resident compared to that of consultant have an impact on patient’s satisfaction over the informed consent process?
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The informed consent process is a fundamental element of best practice in the surgical patient’s care. The aim of the present study is to investigate the value of informed consent from the patient’s perspective in a Teaching Hospital. In particular, the role of the Residents within this process is analyzed to compare their performance with that of Consultants.
DESIGN: This is a prospective observational study based on a consecutive cohort of patients who were offered an elective surgical procedure during the period April 2015 – September 2015.
SETTING: The study was conducted in the Surgical and Transplantation Unit of the University Hospital of Udine, Italy, accredited by the Joint Commission International.
PARTICIPANTS: The study population consisted of 236 patients. The participants were asked on a voluntary basis to fill in a self-evaluating questionnaire after being requested to complete a written informed consent before the operation. RESULTS: In the present study we didn’t register any significant difference of patient’s satisfaction over informed consent when we evaluated the performance of Residents in comparison to Consultants.
CONCLUSIONS: We believe that our positive results may be related to our educational training approach. However, ade- quate education of Residents about seeking informed consent is not sufficient to guarantee an effective informed consent process if it is not supported as a counterpart by the promotion of correct and positive patient knowledge and percep- tion of the Residents’ skills, clinical role and responsibilities.