Informed consent for anesthesia is an ethical and legal requirement. A patient must have adequate decision-making capacity (DMC) as a prerequisite to informed consent. In determining whether a patient has sufficient DMC, anesthesiologists must draw on their knowledge of DMC. Knowledge gaps regarding DMC may result in incorrect assessments of patients’ capacity. This could translate to an informed consent process that is ethically and legally unsound. This study examined the DMC-related knowledge of anesthesiologists in a group of four university-affiliated hospitals. The findings suggest that anesthesiologists have several areas of knowledge deficiency regarding DMC and DMC assessment. These findings could inform the development of undergraduate and postgraduate curricula.
SessumsLLZembrzuskaHJacksonJL. Does this patient have medical decision-making capacity?JAMA2011 Jul 27; 306: 420–427.
3.
YoungGDouglassADavisonL. What do doctors know about assessing decision-making capacity? N Z Med J2018; 131: 14.
4.
Álvarez MarrodánIBaón PérezBSNavío AcostaM, et al.Limits on the use of the MMSE for assessment of capacity to consent for treatment. Eur J Psychiatry2018 Jul 1; 32: 153–157.
5.
HillSAMatherGIJamesAJB. Assessing decision-making capacity: a survey of psychiatrists’ knowledge. Med Sci Law2006 Jan; 46: 66–68.
6.
LamontSJeonY-HChiarellaM. Health-care professionals’ knowledge, attitudes and behaviours relating to patient capacity to consent to treatment: an integrative review. Nurs Ethics2013 Sep; 20: 684–707.
7.
GanziniLVolicerLNelsonW,et al.Pitfalls in assessment of decision-making capacity. Psychosomatics2003 May; 44: 237–243.
8.
ParthasarathiUAmbrosiniDL. Decisional capacity assessments and advance directives. In: HateganABourgeoisJAHirschCH, eds. On-Call Geriatric Psychiatry: Handbook of Principles and Practice [Internet]. Cham: Springer International Publishing; 2016 [cited 2021 Oct 31]. p. 63–68. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30346-8_6
9.
KarelMJ. The assessment of values in medical decision making. J Aging Stud2000 Dec 1; 14: 403–422.
10.
HermannHTrachselMElgerBS,et al.Emotion and value in the evaluation of medical decision-making capacity: a narrative review of arguments. Front Psychol [Internet]2016 May 26 [cited 2019 Feb 27]; 7: 1–10. Available from:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4880567/
ChimaSC. Evaluating the quality of informed consent and contemporary clinical practices by medical doctors in South Africa: an empirical study. BMC Med Ethics2013 Dec 19; 14: S3.
13.
LeoRJ. Competency and the capacity to make treatment decisions: a primer for primary care physicians. Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry1999 Oct; 1: 131–141.
14.
PachetAAstnerKBrownL. Clinical utility of the Mini-mental Status examination when assessing decision-making capacity. J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol2010 Mar 1; 23: 3–8.
15.
CharlandLC. Decision-Making capacity. In: ZaltaEN, editor. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [Internet]. Fall 2015. Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University; 2015 [cited 2018 Dec 18]. Available from: https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2015/entries/decision-capacity/ (accessed 22 November 2021).
16.
HermannHTrachselMMitchellC,et al.Medical decision-making capacity: knowledge, attitudes, and assessment practices of physicians in Switzerland. Swiss Medical Weekly [Internet]2014 Oct 15 [cited 2018 Dec 18]; 144. Available from:https://doi.emh.ch/smw.2014.14039.
17.
ConsidineJBottiMThomasS. Do knowledge and experience have specific roles in triage decision-making?Acad Emerg Med2007; 14: 722–726.
