Article Text
Abstract
Objectives: (1) To investigate the extent to which family physicians (GPs) in Lithuania inform their patients about possible side-effects when a common treatment is proposed. (2) To examine the relation between physicians’ estimation of the severity and frequency of these side-effects and their willingness to inform patients. (3) To identify the reasons for informing or not informing the patients.
Methods: A questionnaire, presenting three hypothetical cases involving decisions about ordinary medical treatments and a series of general questions about information about side-effects, was distributed to 500 Lithuanian GPs. The response rate was 42%.
Results: The respondents differed considerably with regard to their willingness to inform patients about side-effects, but they informed their patients significantly more if the side effect was considered to be common and serious, than in cases when it was considered to be rare and trivial. The majority of the respondents informed their patients primarily to enable them to react appropriately to the side-effects in question. The major reason for not informing was that the side-effects were considered too rare to be relevant to the patient’s decision-making.
Conclusion: Information, given to patients about side-effects by Lithuanian GPs, is not in accordance with the principle of respect for patients’ autonomy and requirements of Lithuanian legislation.
- general practitioners
- adverse effects
- informed consent
- Lithuania
Statistics from Altmetric.com
Footnotes
Competing interests: None.
Request Permissions
If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.
Copyright information:
Read the full text or download the PDF:
Other content recommended for you
- Dealing with ethical problems in the healthcare system in Lithuania: achievements and challenges
- Awareness and attitudes of the Lebanese population with regard to physician – pharmaceutical company interaction: a survey study
- Organisational culture and the integrated chronic diseases management model implementation fidelity in South Africa: a cross-sectional study
- Right to refuse treatment in Turkey: a diagnosis and a slightly less than modest proposal for reform
- Using rubber stamps and mobile phones to help understand and change antibiotic prescribing behaviour in private sector primary healthcare clinics in Kenya
- Are Jordanian primary healthcare practitioners fulfilling their potential in cancer prevention and community health? Findings from a cross-sectional survey
- Using quality improvement to accelerate highly active antiretroviral treatment coverage in South Africa
- Ethically problematic treatment decisions in different medical specialties
- The views of cancer patients on patient rights in the context of information and autonomy
- Towards a multilevel governance framework on the implementation of patient rights in health facilities: a protocol for a systematic scoping review