The Eurekalert released an article about Informed Consent for a heart procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)and how to fix the way we present information to patients.
This article talks about how most patients undergoing heart surgery do not truly comprehend all of the information they should know about the surgery and will often forget even talking to the doctor about the surgery. “Sophia Antipolis, 28 November 2019: Most patients do not understand or recall information given to them before heart procedures. For example, many patients mistakenly believe that opening blocked arteries will cure them of heart disease. That’s one of the findings of a study about informed consent published today in the European Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).” This specific study was done on Percutaneous coronary intervention, and what they found was that more than 40% of the patients admitted to not understanding or even remembering been given information about this surgery.
When a set of patients were asked about the Informed Consent measures the doctors took with either elective or urgent PCI.(the only one not asked was emergency PCI when speed is the importance) When people with coronary heart disease get elective PCI surgery done, which simply just clears out their arteries, almost 60% thought it would cure them, 95% believed it could lower your risk of a future heart attack and 91% believed it could increase how long they live for. But in reality this is not true with the evidence done by professionals.”These beliefs do not align with trial evidence, which shows that elective PCI is predominantly for relief of symptoms,” said study author Professor Felicity Astin, University of Huddersfield, UK. Professor Astin said health services should be reconfigured to allow sufficient time for patients and clinicians to discuss the proposed treatment and potential alternatives. She explained: “Patients often receive all of the information at once. They then feel overloaded, which contributes to forgetting or not comprehending what they hear.”
I believe that when you find out you need surgery you should be accompanied by a family member/friend and if one is not available the hospital should have a nurse or a human resource employee designated to patient consent. A patient should be told to ask questions and the doctor should break it down in multiple meetings not just after the patient is told to get the surgery. Patient care should be the number one priority for any doctor or medical professional. As Professor Mccoy says in class all the time when we talk about informed consent for patients when they are going into surgery, that it is necessary that their right to know everything must be fulfilled.
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