An audit on our procedural consent forms for complication of covid-19 during the pandemic

ABSTRACT

Aims:COVID-19 has had a global impact over the last 12 months Currently there have been over 2 millions deaths from close to 100 millions infected patients. ∗ With the changes from face to face consultations to remote virtual/phone/video consultations the consent process for common procedures both elective and emergency have been affected RCSE have produced a document published 30 June 2020 setting out the main principles of the consent process and providing advice on what additional information should be included in conversations with patients while COVID-19 is still prevalent in society∗ ∗ Method: During 1st November to 28th November all patients in Southend University Hospital undergoing an operation were identified on a near daily basis. Wards reviewed Castlepoint -Orthopaedic Princess Anne -Elective Windsor -General Surgery/Urology Eastwood -Gynaecology Hockley -Acute surgical admissions Discussion and Conclusion: Operation notes were reviewed and patients with COVID-19 complications mentioned were identified and recorded in an excel spreadsheet Only 72% of consent forms mentioned COVID-19 as a recognised complication 92% of consultants (n = 14) mentioned COVID-19 compared to 60% (n = 30) for registrars and 78% (n = 9) for SHOs There was no obvious difference between elective and emergency consenting process.