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Patient recall and appropriate timing for obtaining informed consent for endoscopic procedures
D D Proctor1, J Price, B S Minhas
1The Department of Medicine, East Carolina University School of Medicine, and Pitt County Memorial Hospital, Greenville, North Carolina 27834-4354, USA.
The American Journal of Gastroenterology
|April 14, 1999
Summary
Sedation for endoscopic procedures does not impact informed consent recall. Patients remember information equally well whether consent is obtained hours or minutes before the procedure, even with sedation.
Area of Science:
- Gastroenterology
- Medical Ethics
- Patient Safety
Background:
- Informed consent is crucial in medical malpractice, yet lacks standardization for endoscopic procedures.
- Sedation is commonly used in endoscopy, raising questions about its effect on patient comprehension.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate if sedation interferes with pre-endoscopic informed consent.
- To determine the optimal timing for obtaining informed consent for endoscopic procedures.
Main Methods:
- Comparing informed consent recall in sedated patients (esophagogastroduodenoscopy) and unsedated patients (flexible sigmoidoscopy).
- Informed consent was obtained either 48-72 hours or 10-60 minutes prior to procedures.
- Recall was assessed via questionnaires before discharge and 2-3 days later.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in 1-hour or 2-3-day recall scores were found across groups.
- Recall performance was consistent regardless of whether informed consent was obtained hours or minutes before the procedure.
Conclusions:
- Sedation does not impair the effectiveness of pre-procedure informed consent.
- Informed consent for endoscopic procedures can be obtained at any time prior to sedation without compromising patient recall.