Informed consent in gynecologic surgery

Objective: The objective of the study was to describe surgeon self-reported behaviors and descriptions of information given to patients when obtaining surgical consent. Study Design: This was a survey of 330 gynecological surgeons. Surgeons rated descriptions of information given to patients as well as behaviors for confirming patient understanding during surgical consent. Mean ratings are compared with repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance. Results: Forty-four percent of surveys (145 of 330) were returned. Most respondents were male (56%), Caucasian (86%), in academic practices settings (55%), with more than 10 years of experience after residency (53%). Surgeons give very detailed descriptions of risks and alternatives to surgery. Less detailed descriptions are given of the postoperative course, expected benefits of surgery, or functional and anatomic changes after surgery. Surgeons confirm patient understanding most often by asking patients whether they have any questions and rarely evaluate patient literacy. Conclusion: Surgeons provide widely varying attention to various issues and topics related to communicating with their patients preoperatively.