Wouter Leclercq

A survey of the current practice of the informed consent process in general surgery in the Netherlands 49 3 Table 3.2 Daily practice on surgical informed consent. Q-Nr Question Answer Total (n=453) Residents (n=157) P-value 5 For which type of surgical procedure a All (Y/N %) 49/51% 54/46% 0.19 SIC is required? Elective (Y/N %) 28/72% 27/73% Depending on the surgeon (Y/N %) 23/77% 19/81% 7 Is there a check on patient competence? Own clinical judgement (Y/N %) 98/2% 100/0% 0.17 Questionnaire (Y/N %) 1/99% 0/100% No control (Y/N %) 1/99% 0/100% 8 Is there an institutional standard on which Yes 61/% 58% 0.44 information is provided? No 39% 42% 10 Do you inform a patient on: The diagnosis and operation indication (Y/N %) 99/1% 99/1% 0.61 The surgical procedure (Y/N %) 97/3% 96/3% 0.32 Complications (Y/N %) 99/1% 98/2% 0.70 Alternative treatment options (Y/N %) 86/14% 80/20% 0.017 11 How do you check if the patient understood the information? Repeat Back (Y/N %) 14/86% 13/87% 0.67 12 Is there an institutional standard on Yes 52% 40% <0.001 complication rates to be used? No 48% 59% 13 Which complication percentage do you use Rates from literature (Y/N %) 67/33% 56/44% <0.001 to inform your patient? Rates from own department (Y/N %) 29/71% 17/83% <0.001 Personal rates (Y/N %) 16/84% 3/97% <0.001 17 Is there a check prior to the surgical procedure whether the SIC process is correctly completed? Yes 46%* 44%* 0.39* No 54%* 56%* Q-NR = Question number as reported in Additional file 2. Y/N% = Percentage of persons in this category who answers positive / negative. SIC = Surgical informed consent. * Surgeons n=295, Residents n=156.