VALID AND INFORMED CONSENT IN ORTHOPAEDIC SURGERY: A MULTICENTRE, REGIONAL SERVICE EVALUATION OF CURRENT UK PRACTICE

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic Surgery
• Informed Consent
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Growing emphasis on personalized patient consent processes.
• High litigation costs associated with 'failure to warn' in informed consent.
• Need to improve the validity of the consent process in elective lower limb arthroplasty.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate the validity of the patient consent process in elective lower limb arthroplasty.
• Identify areas for improvement in regional consent procedures.
• Enhance patient understanding and decision-making capacity.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of regional data from seven hospital trusts in the East of England (2021).
• Inclusion of 165 knee and 173 hip replacement cases.
• Analysis of operation notes, patient records, and clinic letters against predetermined criteria.

Main Results:

• Capacity criteria met in only 11.6% (hip) and 13.9% (knee) of cases.
• Consent Form 1 completed in over 88% of cases.
• Procedure-specific consent obtained in ~73% of cases; implant details rarely consented for.

Conclusions:

• Significant room for improvement exists in the current patient consent process.
• Digitalization, interactive multimedia, and audio-visual aids proposed as adjuncts.
• Enhancing the consent process can improve patient understanding and decision-making.