Sociodemographic factors affecting the comprehension of clinical information by inpatients undergoing trauma surgery.

INTRODUCTION

The clinical information process is the basis of the doctor-patient relationship. It starts with the information provided before signing informed consent and ends on the termination of the doctor-patient relationship. The influence of demographic variables in the information process has not been thoroughly studied for inpatients undergoing surgery. In this study we aim to answer two questions: 1) Does gender have an influence on the information process for these patients? 2) Are there other factors that affect the process?

METHOD

A prospective study carried out using an 'ad hoc' designed survey on a 200-inpatient sample after undergoing surgery in the trauma and orthopaedics department of our hospital. Sampling was simple random.

RESULTS

We found differences in the consistency of the answers by gender in the question regarding surgical priority, with the women having a better understanding of it (p=.04). The rest of the questions show no differences by gender. However, in the population analyzed, age and educational level are the main modifiers of understanding, and they are both related to gender (p<.0001; p=.003, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

In clinical practice, it is fundamental to keep in mind the factors that affect the information process. According to our results, the factors that define greater vulnerability in relation to the information process are age and low educational level.