Informed consent for antipsychotic medication

To determine family physicians' attitudes and practices regarding documentation of informed consent for antipsychotic medication.

Pilot cross-sectional study.

Teaching and non-teaching hospitals in Toronto, Ont.

Thirty family physicians were selected in equal numbers from teaching and non-teaching hospitals with no more than five physicians from a given hospital. Participants were treating at least 10 patients with antipsychotic medication. Participants' mean age was 44.3 years; 83% were men.

Documentation of consent and of disclosure of consent for antipsychotic medication in patients' charts.

Documentation was found in only 13% of charts. Whether it was there or not did not correlate with information disclosed, score on an attitude scale, or demographics. Physicians who found documentation time-consuming were less likely to document. Most physicians disclosed reasons for antipsychotic medication, but less than half described tardive dyskinesia, a potentially irreversible movement disorder that affects about 25% of patients on long-term treatment.

The low rate of documentation observed in this sample was consistent with reports of similar samples and might indicate that family physicians are unaware of recommendations for documentation or simply do not have time to keep abreast of current recommendations. Many physicians thought signed consent forms unnecessary for psychotic patients, and even more believed seeking consent for antipsychotic medications would increase patient anxiety.