Documents of Informed Consent for Patients Admitted to Secondary Healthcare Services

Abstract

Introduction: Written documents of informed consent possess deficient quality, a reason why the need appears for a written format reflecting the patient’s autonomy, obtained through an educational information process.Objective: To design a unique, useful and complete document covering all ethical-legal aspects, based on the education of patients who access secondary health care services.Methods: Exploratory development study carried out in the period from October 1 to November 2, 2019. After systematization and consultation with experts, we designed a model assessed, through a survey and interview, by 30 teaching specialist physicians from the department of surgical sciences. The group satisfaction index (Iadov test) and the Delphy method were applied for consulting experts. In addition, absolute and relative frequencies were used.Results: The document was made up of three sections covering general and specific aspects about disease, others related to autonomy, in accordance with the principles of medical ethics. The group satisfaction index (0.86) was very satisfactory.Conclusions: The proposed document improves the process of informed consent and, consequently, the care of the patient admitted to secondary health care, according to the criteria of the surveyed professionals.

Keywords

• informed consent
• written documents
• education
• autonomy