Are Patients Aware Of The Importance Of Reading The Informed Consent Form Before Radiologic Examination?
Betul Guney (ORCID: 0000-0001-9378-0912)
MD, Department of Radiology, Kayseri State Hospital, Turkey.
*Corresponding author
*Betul Guney, MD, Department of Radiology, Kayseri State Hospital, Turkey.
DOI: 10.55920/JCRMHS.2023.03.001128
Table 1: Demographics of survey respondents
Table 2: The relationship between filling out the form according to age groups and knowledge of the legal significance of the form
Among the participants, 49.4% read the entire form, 27.6% did not read it, 16.1% read some of it, and 6.9% read the form with help. A statistically significant difference was found between the educational level of the participants and their reading of the form (p=0.03). Of the participants, 63.2% stated that they were not helped when they wanted to ask questions in the form, while 36.8% were helped.
Approximately 71.3% of the participants stated that the written language was simple, easy, and understandable; 9.8% stated that it was confusing and difficult to understand; 16.1% stated that it was very long and took time to read; and 2.9% stated that it looked like it was written in another language because it contained too many medical words. After reading the form, 20.1% of the participants stated that they did not have sufficient information, 53.4% received sufficient information, 25.3% stated that they were partially informed, and 1.1% stated that the form itself was insufficient. Of the participants, 93.7% stated that they did not think of giving up after reading the form and 6.3% stated that they thought of giving up.
Of the participants, 48.3% stated that they did not complete a similar form, whereas 51.7% stated that they did. Among those who filled out similar forms, 89.1% said that there was no difference between the forms and 10.9% said that they were different.
All participants were treated with contrast material. The participants stated that 89.1% of them did not experience any problems related to the procedure or contrast material, and 10.9% had problems related to the procedure or contrast material. Among these, 47.7% marked the other option, followed by nausea and vomiting (21.1 %), contrast allergy (15.6 %), and vascular access problems (15.6 %). Among the procedures that developed complications, tomography was the most common (74.1%), followed by MRI (15.7%), and interventional procedures (10.2%). It was marked according to the way the problem experienced during the examination was resolved, with 47.3% of the measures taken in which I stated my medical history in the form, 47.3% the intervention was done as written in the form, and 5.4% as no one was interested.
While 54% of the participants knew the reason for completing the form, 46% did not know why they had to fill out the form. A statistically significant difference was found in the education level of the participants and their knowledge regarding the reason for completing the form (p=0.03).
While 42% of the participants knew the legal importance of filling out the form, 58% did not. A statistically significant difference was found in the education level of the participants and their knowledge of the legal significance of the form (p=0.03).
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