Conocimiento de la ley de autonomía del paciente por el personal médico y de enfermería implicado en el proceso quirúrgico / Knowledge of the law of patient autonomy by medical and nursing staff involved in the surgical process

Objetivo. Explorar el conocimiento que se tiene de la Ley de Autonomía del Paciente (LAP) por parte del personal médico y de enfermería implicado en el proceso quirúrgico de dos hospitales de Sevilla. Método. Estudio transversal observacional, realizado en julio de 2008 mediante encuesta elaborada por personal del Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena (HUVM) y revisada por un experto (jurista) de la Consejería de Salud. De una muestra de 100 profesionales (médicos, enfermeras y auxiliares de enfermería) del área quirúrgica de los hospitales Virgen del Rocío y Virgen Macarena, participaron 63. Se realizó un análisis de frecuencias de las respuestas a las preguntas de la encuesta y se aplicó el test de Chi cuadrado para determinar si existían diferencias en el conocimiento de los profesionales en función del hospital, la categoría profesional y el sexo. Resultados. El 69,8% (44) de los participantes reconoce no haber hecho nada para conocer la ley y sólo el 14,3% (9) dice conocer actividades realizadas por el hospital. No existen diferencias en el conocimiento de la ley por parte de los profesionales entre los dos hospitales. En ambos, existe poco conocimiento. La única diferencia estadísticamente significativa, corresponde a la iniciativa personal para conocer la LAP, destacándose el porcentaje superior de las auxiliares de enfermería (p=0,05) y el inferior en los médicos. Conclusiones. La adecuación de los servicios hospitalarios a la LAP requiere del conocimiento de ésta por parte del personal sanitario. Esto exige el compromiso de las direcciones de los hospitales y del personal responsable de los servicios(AU)

Objective. To study the extent to which the Law of Patient Autonomy (LAP) is known by the medical and nursing staff of the surgical areas from the two university hospitals in Seville. Methods. Cross sectional study, obtained in July 2008 from a survey prepared by Hospital Virgen Macarena (HVM) staff and reviewed by an expert (lawyer) from the Ministry of Health of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia. Sixty three out of one hundred professionals (doctors, nurses and nursing assistants) of the surgical area of the HVM and Virgen del Rocio (HVR) hospitals participated in the survey. We performed a frequency analysis of responses to the questions and applied the chi-square test to determine whether there were differences in knowledge depending on the hospital, professional status and sex. Results. Nearly seventy per cent of the participants (44) acknowledged to have made no attempt to learn the law, whereas only 14.3% (9) knew of some sort of hospital action to publicise the law. No significant difference in the knowledge of the law was found between the professionals of each hospital, while the level of knowledge was very modest in both places. However, we found a statistically significant difference in the personal initiative to learn about the LAP, depending on professional status, with the highest percentage being in nurses (P=0.05) and the lowest in doctors. Conclusions. For the implementation of the LAP in the hospitals, health personnel must have knowledge of it. This requires a commitment by hospitals directors and managers, as well as the people responsible for the different services(AU)

[Knowledge of the law of patient autonomy by medical and nursing staff involved in the surgical process]. / Conocimiento de la ley de autonomía del paciente por el personal médico y de enfermería implicado en el proceso quirúrgico.

OBJECTIVE: To study the extent to which the Law of Patient Autonomy (LAP) is known by the medical and nursing staff of the surgical areas from the two university hospitals in Seville. METHODS: Cross sectional study, obtained in July 2008 from a survey prepared by Hospital Virgen Macarena (HVM) staff and reviewed by an expert (lawyer) from the Ministry of Health of the Autonomous Government of Andalusia. Sixty three out of one hundred professionals (doctors, nurses and nursing assistants) of the surgical area of the HVM and Virgen del Rocio (HVR) hospitals participated in the survey. We performed a frequency analysis of responses to the questions and applied the chi-square test to determine whether there were differences in knowledge depending on the hospital, professional status and sex. RESULTS: Nearly seventy per cent of the participants (44) acknowledged to have made no attempt to learn the law, whereas only 14.3% (9) knew of some sort of hospital action to publicise the law. No significant difference in the knowledge of the law was found between the professionals of each hospital, while the level of knowledge was very modest in both places. However, we found a statistically significant difference in the personal initiative to learn about the LAP, depending on professional status, with the highest percentage being in nurses (P=0.05) and the lowest in doctors. CONCLUSIONS: For the implementation of the LAP in the hospitals, health personnel must have knowledge of it. This requires a commitment by hospitals directors and managers, as well as the people responsible for the different services.