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Informed consent for invasive procedures : A perspective from Saudi Arabia

Medical students, college of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 2 Professor of Family Medicine and Medical Ethics. College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh *Corresponding Author’s E-mail: jaljarallah@ksu.edu.sa Tel: +966505486238 Informed consent process is an important exercise yet many doctors are less concerned about it, leading to unsatisfied patients with lack of knowledge about their management plan. The aim of the study was to explore patients’ satisfaction with, and their attitude toward informed consent process in a teaching hospital. The study population comprised patients admitted to various departments for invasive procedures. A total of 138 patients were involved in the study during a 3 months’ period. Patients undergoing invasive procedures were surveyed using a previously validated questionnaire used in a previously published local study. The informed consent form was seen and signed by majority of patients (88.2%), while (11.8%) were signed by another person. Percentage of mean score of satisfaction of experience with the informed consent process was 53.38% ± 19.33%, indicating dissatisfaction with the experience. Out of the patients surveyed, (44.5%) told that their approval or signature for the informed consent was not routine while, (71.7%) were explained about the risk they may face. One-third (31.9%) of the patients reported that they were not informed about the alternative treatment options. With regards to the factors affecting the quality of informed consent, Regression analysis showed that whether consent was explained by the physician or not (t= 2.199, P= 0.030) is the only significant one. The overall process of consent process is of poor quality, with around half of the surveyed patients were not satisfied with the experience of informed consent process and wished if they were really involved in decision-making. A possible explanation is that health care providers adopt a paternalistic approach that does not easily involve patients in decision-making.