Erdinç Kamer1 , Ali Rıza Tümer2 , Turan Acar1 , Burak Uyar3 , Gülden Ballı1 , Fevzi Cengiz1 , Mesut Özoğul1 , Mehmet Hacıyanlı1

1Department of General Surgery, İzmir Katip Çelebi University, Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, İzmir, Turkey
2Department of Forensic Medicine, Hacettepe University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
3Department of Econometrics, Yüzüncüyıl University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Science, Van, Turkey

Abstract

Objective: Informed consent is a term based on the idea that every individual has the right to know every medical intervention that is going to be performed on their own body and to learn the issues that she/he may encounter in case of refusal of intervention, and it also defines the protection of personal rights under the guarantee of law.
Material and Methods: The website of Turkish Surgical Association and 25 different websites of surgical associations were evaluated according to general surgery association guide, which was published by the Turkish Surgical Association in 2011.
Results: Four websites of those surveyed include informed consent sections and these were evaluated. A total of 44 informed consent forms were included in this study. Of these, 29 were in Turk Colon and Rectum Surgery Association, 8 were in Turkish Surgery Association, 5 were in Turk Hepatopancreaticobilier Surgery Association, and 4 were in Endocrine Surgery Association. These informed consent forms were evaluated with regard to the aforementioned criteria. The results and also the distribution according to the associations were summarized. A common feature of the informed consent forms was that all of them included the risks of the intervention/operation and complications to be carried out. On the contrary, none of them included approximate time of surgery, information about surgeons, issues that patients should care about before surgery, the section that permits the use of data for scientific purpose, and the time of signing the informed consent form.
Conclusion: We believe that in this context the regulation of informed consent by sub-specialization associations under the flag of Turkish Surgical Association is a very important matter and will standardize informed consents; websites of the associations will be easier to access, and this will be as beneficial for physicians as the patients and also will protect the physicians in probable trials.

Keywords: Association, form, importance, informed consent, surgery

Cite this paper as: Kamer E, Tümer AR, Acar T, Uyar B, Ballı G, Cengiz F, et al. Importance of informed consent defined by General Surgery Associations in Turkey. Turk J Surg 2018; 34: 97-100.
This study was presented at the “20. National Congress of Surgery”, 13-17 April 2016, Antalya, Turkey.


 

Ethics Committee Approval

Ethics committee approval was received for this study from the ethics committee of İzmir Katip Çelebi University, Atatürk Training and Research Hospital.

Peer Review

Externally peer-reviewed.

Author Contributions

Concept - E.K., A.R.T., M.H.; Design - E.K., G.B.; Supervision - A.R.T., M.H.; Resource - T.A., F.C.; Materials - E.K.,T.A., F.C.; Data Collection and/or Processing - E.K., B.U., G.B.; Analysis and/or Interpretation - E.K., B.U., G.B.; Literature Search - E.K., T.A., M.Ö.; Writing Manuscript - E.K., A.R.T.; Critical Reviews - A.R.T., M.H.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Financial Disclosure

The authors declared that this study has recevied no financial support.