A comparison of surgical patients' and nurses' perceptions of patient's autonomy, privacy and informed consent in nursing interventions

Objective: To investigate and compare Greek patients' and nurses' perceptions of the realisation of autonomy, informed consent and privacy in surgical nursing care. Design and setting: The study used a non-experimental comparative descriptive design and the data were collected from a convenience sample of 275 surgical patients and 222 nurses of six hospitals using two parallel self-completed questionnaires. Results: Nurses perceived that information-giving was realised more than any other concept and that they had given patients an opportunity to decide on alternative treatments, length of stay, eating and drinking, pain relief, sleeping pills, bladder and bowel function, hygiene and wound care. Nurses believed more than patients that patients' privacy was protected, while neither patients nor nurses perceived the provision of informed consent. Patients who had never been operated on previously and had a planned admission felt more that they were offered the opportunity to make decisions. Those with a planned admission who had been offered informed consent believed that they had received information, their privacy had been protected and they had given informed consent. Nurses with training on ethics believed more strongly that patients had received information and informed consent. Conclusion: Nurses perceived autonomy, informed consent, and privacy were more often realised than the patients perceived.