Indian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research 2020;7(2):239–242 Content available at: iponlinejournal.com Indian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Research Journal homepage: www.innovativepublication.com Original Research Article Informed consent process before caesarean section: A study of patient’s perspective regarding adequacy of consent process Saswati Tripathy 1, *, T Shubhashree 1 , R Sajeetha Kumari 1 , Satyajit Mohapatra 2 1 Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India 2 Dept. of Pharmacology, SRM Medical College Hospital & Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 23-05-2020 Accepted 27-05-2020 Available online 15-06-2020 Keywords: Informed consent Caesarean section Questionnaire ABSTRACT Aim: Informed consent is an ethical and legal requirement and is practiced before all the surgical procedures. Cesarean section is the commonest obstetrics surgery and there is increased rate of C-section due to better diagnosis and early referral. A legitimate consent should be taken from the patient or her guardian before caesarean section. So this study was aimed to assess the adequacy of informed consent process and the understanding of information obtained by the patient. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was done with patients aged more than 18 years and who underwent elective or emergency caesarean section. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of ninety three patients were included. A pretested and pre validated questionnaire was adopted for the study. The data were analyzed and expressed as percentage of proportion. Result: The average age of the participants was 26.11± 3.97 years. About 70.96% of the participants underwent emergency caesarean section and 29.07% underwent elective section. About 91.3% of participants knew the necessity of the cesarean section, 94.62% were informed about the risk of surgery and 95.6% were informed about the benefits of C-section. About 98.92% of participants didn’t know about the type of anesthesia to be used and almost all patients were not informed about their right to refuse the procedure. Conclusion: The patients were well informed about the procedure, the risks and benefits involved in C-section. Still some elements of consent process needs to be improved which can be done by proper awareness and training of the health care professionals. © 2020 Published by Innovative Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) 1. Introduction Informed consent is defined as permission granted in full knowledge of the possible consequences, typically that which is given by a patient to a doctor for treatment with knowledge of the possible risks and benefits. It is a process in which a health care provider educates a patient about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or intervention. 1 Informed consent provides information to the patient in an understandable manner without coercion. This allows the patient to make an informed decision about his/her health. The consent helps the patient to take a decision whether to accept or reject any examination or * Corresponding author. E-mail address: drsaswati78@gmail.com (S. Tripathy). treatment. This helps in building a relationship between the physician and the patient. The physician must provide all the necessary information during the consent process. The concept of informed consent originated from the legal rights of the patients to decide what happens to their body and from the duty of the physician to necessitate the healthcare decision to the patient. 2 Various factors like urbanization, education level, family size, health care finance options and religious practices also influence the consent practices. 3 The informed consent process should include the nature, name, risks and benefits of the procedure or intervention, availability of alternative procedure, compensation for injury if related to the intervention. https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijogr.2020.049 2394-2746/© 2020 Innovative Publication, All rights reserved. 239