Analysis of the Patient’s Ability to Understand the Informed Consent Form

Abstract

Introduction: Medical Assistance, Assistance and research, the principles initiated by the Nuremberg Code, were materialized through written documents called Consent Forms. The present study aims to assess the understanding of the consent form in hospitals in the state of São Paulo. Method: Terms that meet the inclusion criteria were retrieved in the analysis with textual readability analysis, and the specific online assessment instrument of the textual readability program was used: Flesch Readability Test; Gulpease Index; Flesch-Kincaid graduation level; Adapted Gunning cloudiness index ; Automated readability index; Coleman-Liau index. Results: The present study presents data between texts of terms with: two at level 11 (high readability); eight are from level 13 to16 (medium readability) and three are from level 17 to18 (low readability). Therefore, the results of the present study indicated that in order to understand the analyzed terms the reader had to be at a univerisity level course ou have graduated from the university. Conclusion: It is recommended that sample be expanded and that they hospitals adopt measures that readability of terms. Keywords: Free and Informed Consent, Understanding, Operative Surgical Procedures