Examination to Anesthetic Informed Consent

Koo, Gill Hoi; Jung, Yong Hun

Abstract

BACKGROUND
As the problems of medical malpractices become a very serious social issue, it is necessary to increasingly relate law to medical practice and evaluate medical services. However, it is not easy to legally call someone to account, as medical services are highly specific, especially anesthetic management. Anesthesiologist can expect to be involved in legal action alleging malpractice, either as a defendant or expert witness.
METHODS
The anesthetic informed consent form was examined at 42 general hospitals in the Republic of Korea. The chief physician of the department of anesthesiology and pain medicine was asked for the anesthetic informed consent form they used in clinical anesthetic practice, and then what constitutes adequate informed consent analyzed.
RESULTS
All of the hospitals were using informed consent forms, but 42.9% of the hospital used a specific form to describe the complications or risks associated with anesthetic management. In 71.4% of hospitals, the anesthesiologists or anesthetic residents explained the anesthetic risk, but 28.6% of hospitals the anesthetic complications were explained by nurses or surgeons. In 76.2% of hospitals, the anesthetic risks were explained to both the patients and parents, but in 23.8% these were explained to parents only.
CONCLUSIONS
We propose a new anesthetic informed consent form for adequate explanation and agreement to legal requirements.