title: Informed consent for tonsillectomy: Do parents comprehend the information we provide?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Informed consent is an important part of the surgical process. Based on our clinical experience, we hypothesized that parents providing consent for their children's tonsillectomy do not comprehend all the information that is given to them by the operating surgeon at the time of a conventional consent process.
  
  
  METHODS
  Parents whose children were scheduled for tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy and/or tympanostomy tubes insertion were enrolled. Within one hour after the consent process, they were asked to complete a questionnaire designed to collect demographic data and to evaluate how much of the information that was given to them was actually understood.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ninety-seven parents were enrolled between October 2011 and March 2013. The average percentage of correct answers (score) for the 16 multiple-choice questions was 76.3%. The average scores were 84.8% for the native Hebrew-speaking parents and 71.9% for the parents whose first language was other than Hebrew (p < 0.01). The average scores were 83.3% for the parents who are healthcare system workers and 74.4% for those parents whose profession is not related to medicine (p < 0.05). Fifty parents (51.5%) responded incorrectly to at least one of two questions that we defined as essential: "What would you do if your child starts to bleed from the mouth" and "What kind of food is recommended for your child during the first week after the surgery".
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current conventional method of obtaining informed consent for tonsillectomy is inadequate, as reflected by the low level of parental comprehension of essential information. Further studies which will evaluate methods for improving the consent process are highly warranted.
authors: Pediatric ENT Unit, "Dana" Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. Electronic address: droshriw@gmail.com.
authors: Oshri
authors: O
authors: Wasserzug
authors: Pediatric ENT Unit, "Dana" Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Gadi
authors: G
authors: Fishman
authors: Pediatric ENT Unit, "Dana" Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Dan
authors: D
authors: Sternbach
authors: Pediatric ENT Unit, "Dana" Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Efrat
authors: E
authors: Reindorf-Kfir
authors: Pediatric ENT Unit, "Dana" Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Eran
authors: E
authors: Averbuch
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Dan M
authors: DM
authors: Fliss
authors: Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Yael
authors: Y
authors: Oestreicher-Kedem
authors: Pediatric ENT Unit, "Dana" Children's Hospital, Tel Aviv, Israel; Department of Otolaryngology, Head & Neck and Maxillofacial Surgery, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors: Ari
authors: A
authors: Derowe
mesh_terms: D000233:Adenoidectomy; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D033282:Parental Consent; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014068:Tonsillectomy
keywords: Comprehension; Essential information; Informed consent; Tonsillectomy