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Surgeons' opinions and practice of informed consent in Nigeria
  1. Temidayo O Ogundiran1,2,
  2. Clement A Adebamowo2,3
  1. 1Division of Oncology, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  2. 2West African Bioethics Programme, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
  3. 3Institute of Human Virology, Abuja, Nigeria and Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland, Maryland, USA
  1. Correspondence to Dr Temidayo O Ogundiran, Department of Surgery, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and University College Hospital, PMB 5116, Ibadan, Nigeria; toogundiran{at}yahoo.co.uk

Abstract

Background Informed consent is perhaps more relevant to surgical specialties than to other clinical disciplines. Fundamental to this concept is the provision of relevant information for the patient to make an informed choice about a surgical intervention. The opinions of surgeons in Nigeria about informed consent in their practice were surveyed.

Methods A cross-sectional survey of surgeons in Nigeria was undertaken in 2004/5 using self-administered semistructured questionnaires.

Results There were 102 respondents, 85.3% of whom were men and 58.8% were aged 31–40 years. 43.1% were consultants and 54.0% were surgical trainees. 27.4% were in surgical subspecialties, 26.5% in general surgery and 21.6% were obstetricians and gynaecologists. 54.9% agreed that sufficient information is not provided to patients while obtaining their consent for surgical procedures. They listed medicolegal reasons (70.6%), informing patients about benefits, risks and alternatives (64.7%) and hospital policy (50.0%) as some reasons for obtaining consent for surgical procedures. When patients decline to give consent for surgery, 84.3% of them thought that poor communication between surgeons and patients may be contributory. They identified taking a course in bioethics during surgical training and compulsory communication skills course as some ways to improve communication between surgeons and patients.

Conclusion Most Nigerian surgeons seemed to have a good knowledge of the informed consent requirements and process but fall short in practice. There is a need to improve the surgeon–patient relationship in line with modern exigencies to provide interactive environments for fruitful patient communication and involvement.

  • Informed consent
  • surgeons
  • Nigeria
  • applied and professional ethics

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Footnotes

  • Funding The study was partly supported by funds from Fogarty re-entry grant from the Joint Centre for Bioethics, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

  • Competing interests None.

  • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.