Comparative analysis of informed consent for spine surgery in patients in Ethiopia and Poland and the importance of verbal contact with patients based on the medical mission "Polish Medical Team Helping Hand"

Siedlecki Zygmunt, Sahlu Abat, Sileshy Adu, Mendere Surafel Mekonnen, Dilnesaw Amanuel Firew, Bizuneh Yemisirach, Grzyb Sebastian, Tegene Bizuayehu Mengesha, Tirsit Abenezer, Śniegocki Maciej. Comparative analysis of informed consent for spine surgery in patients in Ethiopia and Poland and the importance of verbal contact with patients based on the medical mission "Polish Medical Team Helping Hand". Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2022;12(2):249-254. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2022.12.02.026

https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/JEHS.2022.12.02.026

https://zenodo.org/record/6410212

The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343.

Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences).

Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159.

Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe:Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu).

© The Authors 2022;

This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland

Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike.

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper.

Received: 22.03.2022. Revised: 25.03.2022. Accepted: 03.04.2022.

Comparative analysis of informed consent for spine surgery in patients in Ethiopia and Poland and the importance of verbal contact with patients based on the medical mission "Polish Medical Team Helping Hand"

Zygmunt Siedlecki¹, Abat Sahlu^2,3, Adu Sileshy³, Surafel Mekonnen Mendere^2,3, Amanuel Firew Dilnesaw^2,3, Yemisirach Bizuneh², Sebastian Grzyb⁴, Bizuayehu Mengesha Tegene⁴, Abenezer Tirsit², Maciej Śniegocki¹

1. Department of Neurosurgery and Neurotraumatology and Pediatric Neurosurgery, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland

2. Addis Ababa University, School of Medicine, Department of Surgery, Neurosurgery Division, Black Lion Hospital, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

3. Department of Neurosurgery, Armed Forces Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

4. Polish Medical Team Helping Hand - cross-center social initiative

Corresponding address:

Dr. med. Zygmunt Siedlecki Department of Neurosurgery, Neurotraumatology and Pediatric Neurosurgery,

the Ludwik Rydygier Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz,

ul. Skłodowskiej-Curie 9

85-094 Bydgoszcz

tel.: + 48 606 302680

e-mail: siedlecki@cm.umk.pl

Abstract

The authors present a comparative analysis of the issue of legal consents for surgical procedures between Ethiopia and Poland. The analysis is based on the procedures performed as part of the Polish medical mission "Polish Medical Team Helping Hand". As part of this project, the authors performed ten surgical procedures for percutaneous spine stabilization in soldiers injured during the war with gunshots of the spine and after falling from a height. All soldiers signed informed written consent to the procedure. However, the authors noticed a significant role of additional oral/ verbal (not written) information in discussing the details of the procedure, which in Polish hospitals must be in writing for formal and legal reasons. The authors conclude that while the written consent for surgical treatment is key and necessary both in Poland and in Ethiopia, in the case of medical procedures performed in Ethiopia, oral communication between the doctor and patients and oral explanations are more binding even regardless of the language barrier.

Keywords: informed consent, spine surgery, Ethiopian neurosurgery