Consent for gynaecological procedure: what do women understand and remember?

PURPOSE: To determine patients' understanding and recall of consent information and risks associated with their procedure following gynaecological surgery.
METHOD: Patients planned for routine gynaecological surgery were invited to participate in the study by completing a self-administered questionnaire 4-6 h after day-surgery and 24 h after in-patient surgery. Collated data were analysed using standard statistical methods. RESULT: 544 women participated in the study. 321 (57.9 %) were day-cases and 233 (42.1 %) were in-patients. 33 % and 30.8 % of in-patients and day-cases, respectively did not recall any risk associated with their procedure. Among in-patients, women who did not recall any risk were less likely to have post primary education (84.2 vs. 96.2 %, P = 0.008), understood an information leaflet (79.5 vs. 95.1 %, P = 0.002), understood the consent counselling (85.5 vs. 98 %, P = 0.001), or remember the explanation of procedure and risks (85.5 vs. 98 %, P = 0.001). Among women who did not recall any risk, the day-case women were less likely to have read the information leaflet (86.4 vs. 96.2 %, P = 0.002), understood the information leaflet (79.5 vs. 98.9 %, P = 0.007), or understood the consent counselling (85.5 vs. 98.9 %, P < 0.001) when compared to in-patients.
CONCLUSION: A third of women who had planned gynaecology procedure do not recall any risk associated with the procedure. Provision of information leaflet did not make any consistent difference.