Six Month Prospective Study on Knowledge and Perception Of Elective Surgical Patients to Informed Consent and Their Associated Factors at Jimma Medical Center, Jimma, Ethiopia.

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.