| Summary: | The researcherâs observation that patients do not always understand what
they are consenting to was confirmed by various sources. According to
Northouse and Northouse (1998: 270) and the South African Department of
Health (2006: 11) patientsâ lack of comprehension in the process of informed
consent is a general phenomenon taking place in every hospital setting due to
factors such as lack of interpersonal relationships between the health care
professional and the patient cultural practices as well as language.
A quantitative, descriptive study design was used to describe the process of
obtaining informed consent prior to a surgical procedure in a hospital in the
Northern Cape. Specific objectives were to: (1) describe the current practice
of obtaining informed consent prior to a surgical procedure or an operation;
and (2) make recommendations to relevant stakeholders for the purpose of
improving the process of informed consent for an operation or procedure and
thus the quality of health care.
A structured interview, based on a questionnaire, was used to gather
information using convenient sampling as the primary sampling method
because it was feasible and affordable. A pretest was done before the main
data collection process, but the results were not included in the final results.
Data collection took place over a period of 90 days and included 150
participants who all met the inclusion criteria determined by the researcher.
The researcher was assisted by a biostatistician who made use of Statistical
Analyses Software (SAS) in order to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics
namely means and standard deviations or medians and percentiles were
calculated for continuous data. Frequencies and percentages were calculated
for categorical data, and the analysis was done by a biostatistician. The
researcher organized the study results according to tenets of capacity to
consent to give meaning to the data and make it easy to understand. Figures and tables were used to present the large amount of detailed information
concisely and clearly. More than one third of the sample was vulnerable due
to their low educational level and unawareness of their rights as patients.
Unfortunately no effort was made to ensure that they fully comprehended
what they were consenting to.
Recommendations focused on strategies to improve understanding by
patients and to inform patients of their rights and responsibilities.
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