Version 1
: Received: 9 February 2023 / Approved: 13 February 2023 / Online: 13 February 2023 (14:36:14 CET)
How to cite:
Stefani, B.; Codrich, D.; Caputo, M.R.; Guida, E.; Scarpa, M.; Boscarelli, A.; Schleef, J. Surgical Informed Consent in Elective Pediatric Surgery: Medical Inadequacy or Parental Scotomization?. Preprints2023, 2023020219. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0219.v1.
Stefani, B.; Codrich, D.; Caputo, M.R.; Guida, E.; Scarpa, M.; Boscarelli, A.; Schleef, J. Surgical Informed Consent in Elective Pediatric Surgery: Medical Inadequacy or Parental Scotomization?. Preprints 2023, 2023020219. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0219.v1.
Cite as:
Stefani, B.; Codrich, D.; Caputo, M.R.; Guida, E.; Scarpa, M.; Boscarelli, A.; Schleef, J. Surgical Informed Consent in Elective Pediatric Surgery: Medical Inadequacy or Parental Scotomization?. Preprints2023, 2023020219. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0219.v1.
Stefani, B.; Codrich, D.; Caputo, M.R.; Guida, E.; Scarpa, M.; Boscarelli, A.; Schleef, J. Surgical Informed Consent in Elective Pediatric Surgery: Medical Inadequacy or Parental Scotomization?. Preprints 2023, 2023020219. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202302.0219.v1.
Abstract
Introduction: The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate parents’/guardians’ late recall of surgical procedures and risks of elective surgery after pre-operative interview with surgeons. Materials and Methods: All parents/guardians of patients <18 years of age undergoing elective procedures from January 15th to September 1st, 2022, were prospectively enrolled in the study. Before discharge, parents/guardians were asked to complete a questionnaire regarding the duration of the consent procedure, duration of the interview, quality of the informative handouts, and their ability to recall the type of disease, type of surgical procedure, and surgical risks. Answers were graded from 1 to 4. Results: One hundred and two questionnaires were returned. In all cases, informed consent was obtained between 24 and 72 hours prior to surgery. The following responses were collected: 98/102 (96%) parents/guardians reported that the duration of the consent process was adequate; 95/102 (93%) reported that the handouts were fully informative, and 7/102 (7%) reported that they were partially informative regarding explanation of the disease and surgical procedure; regarding complications, 93/102 (91%) perceived the handouts to be fully/partially informative, while 4/102 (4%) perceived the handouts to be poorly/non-informative, and 5/102 (5%) did not provide a response; 94/102 (92%) stated that they remembered the pathology, but only 87/94 (93%) recalled it correctly; 90/102 (88%) stated that they remembered the type of procedure, but only 76/90 (84%) recalled it correctly; and 53/102 (52%) stated that they remembered the surgical risks, but only 20/53 (38%) could recall more than one complication. Conclusions: Late recall of surgical complications by parents was poor despite the high perceived quality of the surgical risk handouts and medical interview.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.