Background: Obtaining a separate consent for anaesthesia is rather new in medical practice and remains a subject of debate. Despite adequate disclosure by anaesthesiologists, obtaining separate written consent for anaesthesia is not easy. Therefore, this study was planned to evaluate patient's knowledge and perception of separate written consent for anaesthesia in a rural part of India.
Methods and Materials: This prospective, single-centre, nonrandomized, observational study was conducted in a tertiary care medical college hospital in a rural part of India. Patients undergoing elective surgery from 01 December 2015 to 31 January 2016 were included in this study. Each of the patients was asked to fill a questionnaire having two parts with seven questions each. A correct answer was awarded one mark while wrong answers were given zero marks.
Results: Out of 200 participants, only 124 (62%) knew that they should fully read and understand anaesthesia consent from before signing it. Similarly only 35.5% patients knew that they could inquire about the benefits of proposed anaesthesia technique over other available options.
Conclusions: Patients lack awareness about separate consent for anaesthesia and about vital role; they are supposed to play in anaesthesia related decision-making.