What we don't know won't hurt us?

[Guest guest]

There is no way that doctors and hospitals should be allowed to either lie to us or tell us half-truths. It is OUR lives at stake and they have no right to abuse that trust. If they don't tell us something as simple as the experience level of someone who is going to be cutting us open, is it any wonder that they won't tell us the real side effects of vaccines and drugs?Ignorance is bliss for surgical consent20-Sep-2011 Brill Consent rates for surgery would plummet if patients were fully informed about the involvement of trainees in procedures, research suggests.A survey of patients at a US teaching hospital has found that vaguer is better when it comes to securing informed consent for operations involving trainees.Almost all patients – 94% – consented to the involvement of a surgical resident in their procedure, when asked in very general terms.And when questioned broadly about medical education, the majority agreed it was important for trainees to gain experience, and felt their participation would benefit other patients.But consent rates quickly fell when researchers posed more detailed, realistic questions and scenarios. The more heavily involved the trainee, or the more junior they were, the less likely patients were to consent, the study found.Just 18% consented to a procedure where a junior resident conducted the operation without direct supervision – despite this being a relatively common scenario in US hospitals, the researchers said.Writing in the Archives of Surgery (online), they warned that introducing detailed disclosure policies could prove damaging to surgical education, and lead trainees to graduate with less experience.They noted that several other studies had called for the adoption of routine and detailed disclosure when seeking informed consent, but had not actually quantified what impact such policies would have.“Our results raise significant concerns regarding the effect of such a policy on resident education and, in particular, the effect on allowing increased levels of autonomy to trainees,” they said.“[We] believe that broad calls for routine mandated disclosure should be carefully planned and analysed prior to implementation to avoid any adverse effects on surgical training.”The study comprised anonymous questionnaires completed by 316 patients scheduled for elective surgery at the Madigan Army Health System in Tacoma, Washington.Archives of Surgery 2011; online.http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/articles/E0/0C072CE0.asp