Publication:

Study of adequacy of informed consent in caesarean section in a tertiary care, teaching and research institute of Northern India

Background Informed consent consists of availing information to the patient in an understandable manner without coercion to allow the patient to make an informed decision about their healthcare. In the case of caesarean section, information must include name, nature, proposed benefits of the procedure, risks of the procedure, alternative procedures, implications on the future reproductive health and anesthetic options. Aim and objective: To study the adequacy of informed consent in patients who undergo caesarean section at PT. B. D. Sharma, PGIMS, Rohtak.

Methods It was a cross sectional study. The study population was the group of patients who underwent emergency or elective caesarean section at PGIMS, Rohtak. A pretested questionnaire was adopted from a study carried out at School of Medicine, University of Zambia and was administered to the patients.

Results It was found that majority of the patients were in the age group of 21-30 years and most of them (71%) were from the rural areas. In 90% of the cases the outcome of caesarean section was term live births and majority of them (84%) were emergency caesarean section. The patients were asked fourteen questions regarding various aspects of informed consent based on the five point Likert scale.

Conclusions Majority of the caesarean sections were performed due to some emergency indications. It was found that overall patients were well informed about the procedure and the related consequences.