From the patient's perspective: is there a need to improve the quality of informed consent for surgery in training hospitals?

This study was performed to evaluate the presurgical informed consent process at a training hospital in Jamaica.A postoperative survey was administered to all consecutive able and willing adult patients who underwent the presurgical informed consent process with surgical residents during a 5-week period. Information was collected on patient demographics and patients' perception and satisfaction with the informed consent process.There were 210 surveys completed. Patients were unaware of the training status of the physician involved with their presurgical informed consent process in 48% of cases. Nineteen (9%) patients were instructed to sign a consent document without any discussion. An attempt was made to secure a signature after some discussion with the remaining 191 patients. Patients reported that details of the operation were discussed 74% of the time; potential benefits of the surgery, 72% of the time; potential morbidity, 84% of the time; potential mortality, 19% of the time; predicted postoperative course, 49% of the time; projected recovery, 26% of the time; and other treatment options, 33% of the time. Forty-five patients believed that they were instructed to sign the consent document with minimal discussion. At termination of the consent process, only 70% of the 210 patients reported that they signed the consent form voluntarily. Overall, 67% of patients thought the current informed consent process was unsatisfactory.The current informed consent process in use in the surgical training program at the University Hospital of the West Indies requires improvement to meet expected ethical and legal standards.