Background: Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his/her own body. Patient autonomy and the practice of informed patient consent are now pivotal in medical p...Background: Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his/her own body. Patient autonomy and the practice of informed patient consent are now pivotal in medical practice. Aim: To assess patient’s knowledge of Patients’ Rights Charter and whether patients receive adequate information to enable them make an informed consent to a particular treatment. Methodology: Patients who were undergoing elective surgery from selected surgical departments of Komfo Anokye teaching hospital in Kumasi were randomly selected and assisted to answer structured questionnaire without the knowledge of their doctors. The study period was in June to December (2014). Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS (II) of the results. Results: 84.7% (144) had no idea about the Patients’ Rights Charter of the Ghana Health Service. 75% (128) did not know or had not heard of informed patient consent. Of those who knew of the charter, 85% (37) had ever stayed in a developed country. 60% (102) did not know of their diagnosis. 79% (134) said the doctor only asked them to either sign or thumb print the consent document without giving them treatment options or possible complications. Conclusion: Most of respondents undergoing various surgical procedures at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital were not aware of the existence of the Patients’ Rights Charter of the Ghana Health Service. Again, practitioners did not provide sufficient information to patients for them to make an informed decision about their health.展开更多
Medical professionalism provides the guidelines that govern the patient-physician relationship. This implicit contract requires that patients be informed before making decisions regarding their medical care. Educating...Medical professionalism provides the guidelines that govern the patient-physician relationship. This implicit contract requires that patients be informed before making decisions regarding their medical care. Educating patients about diagnostic and treatment decisions is critical to an informed decision-making process. Shared decision-making is a recent paradigm shift in patient education that allows patients to make decisions based both on the counsel of their physicians and according to their own preferences and values. This approach moves away from previous models that focused on physicians or third-party payers as the arbiters of diagnostic and treatment choices. Urologic surgeons have been at the forefront of shared decision-making research and continue to promote this concept in the most recent American Urological Association Guideline on Detection of Prostate Cancer. Unfortunately, the feefor-service financial structure that predominates in the United States' health care system provides a disincentive for shared decision-making. By promoting patient volume rather than time spent with patients, this system rewards physicians who spend less time educating patients about diagnostic and treatment options. Therefore, to promote adherence to the educational responsibility inherent in medical professionalism, werecommend physician payment reform that rewards physicians for time spent with patients rather than the volume of patients seen.展开更多
文摘Background: Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his/her own body. Patient autonomy and the practice of informed patient consent are now pivotal in medical practice. Aim: To assess patient’s knowledge of Patients’ Rights Charter and whether patients receive adequate information to enable them make an informed consent to a particular treatment. Methodology: Patients who were undergoing elective surgery from selected surgical departments of Komfo Anokye teaching hospital in Kumasi were randomly selected and assisted to answer structured questionnaire without the knowledge of their doctors. The study period was in June to December (2014). Descriptive analysis was done using SPSS (II) of the results. Results: 84.7% (144) had no idea about the Patients’ Rights Charter of the Ghana Health Service. 75% (128) did not know or had not heard of informed patient consent. Of those who knew of the charter, 85% (37) had ever stayed in a developed country. 60% (102) did not know of their diagnosis. 79% (134) said the doctor only asked them to either sign or thumb print the consent document without giving them treatment options or possible complications. Conclusion: Most of respondents undergoing various surgical procedures at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital were not aware of the existence of the Patients’ Rights Charter of the Ghana Health Service. Again, practitioners did not provide sufficient information to patients for them to make an informed decision about their health.
文摘Medical professionalism provides the guidelines that govern the patient-physician relationship. This implicit contract requires that patients be informed before making decisions regarding their medical care. Educating patients about diagnostic and treatment decisions is critical to an informed decision-making process. Shared decision-making is a recent paradigm shift in patient education that allows patients to make decisions based both on the counsel of their physicians and according to their own preferences and values. This approach moves away from previous models that focused on physicians or third-party payers as the arbiters of diagnostic and treatment choices. Urologic surgeons have been at the forefront of shared decision-making research and continue to promote this concept in the most recent American Urological Association Guideline on Detection of Prostate Cancer. Unfortunately, the feefor-service financial structure that predominates in the United States' health care system provides a disincentive for shared decision-making. By promoting patient volume rather than time spent with patients, this system rewards physicians who spend less time educating patients about diagnostic and treatment options. Therefore, to promote adherence to the educational responsibility inherent in medical professionalism, werecommend physician payment reform that rewards physicians for time spent with patients rather than the volume of patients seen.
