Abstract:
Background: Informed consent is important for the patient and the treating physician. A patient's
decision to consent to a surgical procedure is based on an adequate and clear information.
Objectives: To assess Knowledge and perception of surgical informed consent and associated
factors among elective adult surgical patents at JMC, Jimma, Ethiopia.
Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was performed at surgical elective ward with
sample size of 120 from April 1/2022 to September 30/2022. Ethical letter was taken from Jimma
university Institutional Review Board (IRB). Pretested self-administered questionnaires was used.
Data was coded, entered and analyzed using Epi data and was exported to SPSS.
Results: Out of 200 participants, one hundred eight (90%) were told their diagnosis, 93.3 % knew
the benefits of the surgery, and 79.2% knew the consequences of not doing the surgery. More
than two-third of the respondents were not informed about other method of treatment.
Conclusion: This study revealed that the patient’s knowledge towards informed consent for
surgical procedures is limited and their perception towards informed consent is poor.
