Patients’ Experiences of Informed Consent and Preoperative Education

Abstract

The aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to determine adult surgery patients’ experiences of informed consent and preoperative education. Research was conducted between September 2018 and February 2019. The sample consisted of 201 adult patients of a university hospital in Turkey. Data were collected using a 48-item questionnaire developed by the researchers based on literature. More than half of the participants (54.2%) were fully informed while 36.8% were partially informed about their surgery process and 61.2% were informed by physicians. Overall, 33.3% had unanswered questions about surgery, with questions relating mostly to the type of surgery (26.8%) and its effect on their body (25.4%). Participants were least informed about preoperative deep breathing and cough exercises (47.8%). More than half (58.4%) of participants expected healthcare professionals to avoid using medical terminology when informing them. Physicians and nurses perform invasive interventions on patients and, therefore, should be sensitive about informing patients.