KNOWLEDGE, PRACTISE AND ATTITUDE OF NURSES IN SURGICAL INFORM CONSENT AT THE KOMFO ANOKYE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Abstract

Patients have the legal and ethical right to direct what happens to them, and the healthcare providers have the ethical duty to involve patients in their health care. The informed consent is an important way in which the patient participates actively in choices about their health care.Historically informed consent forms have been develop for the purpose of educating patients before been use as a subject for research or yet to undergo surgery. Respecting the right of every client to self-determination is a basic ethical principle that every nurse should observe. This study reports on the general knowledge and practice of various categories of nurses in an informed consent process at KomfoAnokye Teaching Hospital Surgical ward. A total of 131 respondents between the ages of 11-50 were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The specific objectives of the study were to find out the knowledge of nurse’s in an informed consent process, to assess the practices of informed consent among nurses and to determine the attitude of nurses in an informed consent processthe study found out that, there is a very high rate of nurse’s knowledge on informed consent practices among nurses. Also contrary to other studies, educational level of nurses did not determine the ability for nurses to recall the risks associated with the procedures or the indication of the procedure. Lastly most nurses link legal and ethical reasons as the purpose of signing the informed consent.