Infrainguinal Bypass Informed Consent: An Audit Driven Standardisation Of Perioperative Risk Profiling

Infrainguinal Bypass Informed Consent: An Audit Driven Standardisation Of Perioperative Risk Profiling
K Muhammad, H Al-Khaffaf
British Journal of Surgery, 12 October 2021; 108 (Supplement 6)
Abstract
Introduction
It is a fundamental good clinical practice in our medicolegal rights era to obtain standard, adequate, and transparent informed consent before any planned intervention. Currently, there are neither national approved vascular intervention-specific consents nor explicit guidelines for it. We aim to achieve a standardisation of perioperative risk profiling of infrainguinal bypass surgical consents and produce a model one.
Method
A retrospective analysis of 45 infrainguinal bypass consents (audit/reaudit) between (2013-2019) retrieved to evaluate quality and completeness against GMC 2008 guidance: “Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together”. Data included basic consent requirements according to guidelines and specific risks of infrainguinal bypass. It was registered with the Trust Clinical Audit Department.
Results
(100%) of audit and reaudit consents documented the intended benefits of surgery. Inclusion into the National Vascular Registry (NVR) was achieved (0%) in audit vs (80%) in reaudit forms. Of the 19 documented postoperative complications, reaudit significant improvement observed in % of documenting 16 items with 9 complications recorded above 50%. The maximum number of audit documented risks was 15 (79%), the median 8 (42%), and the least was 3 (16%) compared to maximum 16 (84%), the median 10 (53%) and the least was 4 (21%) when reaudited, respectively.
Conclusions
Deficiencies in performing and adequately completing surgical consents still occur. Introducing a national pre-printed vascular intervention-specific consent is vital for accomplishing and maintaining a good clinical practice. It should include all complications with relative % risk to minimise errors, provide good quality consent, and promote clinical practice at a national level.