Medical students as observers in theatre: is an explicit consent necessary?

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  • Author(s): Leung GK;Leung GK; Patil NG
  • Source:
    The clinical teacher [Clin Teach] 2011 Jun; Vol. 8 (2), pp. 122-5.
  • Publication Type:
    Journal Article
  • Language:
    English
  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Blackwell Pub Country of Publication: England NLM ID: 101227511 Publication Model: Print Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1743-498X (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 17434971 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Clin Teach Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Oxford, UK : Blackwell Pub., c2004-
    • Subject Terms:
      Ethics, Medical* ; Informed Consent* ; Patient Participation* ; Patient Satisfaction* ; Students, Medical*; Teaching/*ethics; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Analysis of Variance ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Data Collection ; Female ; General Surgery/education ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Hospitals, Teaching ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Young Adult
    • Abstract:
      Background: Obtaining consent before engaging patients in teaching activities is essential. The presence of medical students as observers in the operating theatre is sometimes overlooked as a form of teaching activity, in which patients could have become unwitting or unwilling participants.
      Purpose: To investigate patients' attitudes towards student observers in theatre.
      Method: A cross-sectional, voluntary, guided questionnaire survey on 225 general surgical patients at a teaching hospital.
      Results: Over two-thirds of patients would accept student observers, and regard a prior consent process as essential. Gender, level of education, subjective state of health and the perceived risk of surgery were not found to influence their decisions. Younger patients were more likely to refuse observers. Close to 10 percent of patients who were happy to participate in bedside teaching would not accept theatre observers, whereas 25 percent who were not happy to participate in bedside teaching would accept theatre observers.
      Conclusion: An explicit consent process is essential for theatre-based teaching, even when students are simply acting as observers. Patients who are willing to participate in ward-based teaching should not be presumed to accept theatre observers.
      (© Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011.)
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20110519 Date Completed: 20110913 Latest Revision: 20151119
    • Publication Date:
      20240628
    • Accession Number:
      10.1111/j.1743-498X.2010.00422.x
    • Accession Number:
      21585674