Evaluation of the informed consent procedures prior to patient bookings at Western District Health Service.

The aim of this study was to determine the compliance rate of medical officers in relation to obtaining informed consent from the consumer prior to a booking for elective surgery in the Western District Health Service, a regional hospital service in Western Victoria, Australia. Data on elective bookings was gathered from 1 February 2005 to 31 May 2005. Elective Request for Admission forms that did not incorporate the appropriate documentation were flagged and recorded on an Excel spreadsheet. In addition, elective theatre statistics were obtained from 1 February 2005 to 31 May 2005 from the Patient Administration System, to serve as the denominator for calculating the results. The results revealed that 19 Visiting Medical Officers (VMOs) performed a total of 1194 elective operations during the study timeframe, while throughout the bookings process, 66 patients presented with insufficient consent documentation. T he percentage of patients admitted with documented informed consent prior to their booking was above 90 per cent within each month of the study and it was observed that the majority of VMOs who utilised the operating suite at Western District Health Service (WDHS)provided adequate information to their patients prior to their booking.