Digitalisation in the health system is a topic that is rapidly gaining popularity, not only because of the current pandemic. As in many areas of daily life, digitalisation is becoming increasingly important in the medical field amid the exponential rise in the use of computers and smartphones. This opens up new possibilities for optimising patient education in the context of anaesthesia. The main aim of this study was to assess the implementation of remote consent in Europe.
An online survey entitled “Digital online Patient Informed Consent for Anaesthesia before Elective Surgery. Recent practice in Europe”, with a total of 27 questions was sent by the European Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (ESAIC) to their members in 47 European countries. To assess the effect of economy on digitalisation and legal status with regard to anaesthesia consent, data were stratified based on Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (GDPPC).
23.1 % and 37.2 % of the 930 participants indicated that it was possible to obtain consent online or via telephone, respectively. This observation was more often reported in countries with high GDPPC levels than in countries with low GDPPC levels. Furthermore, 27.3 % of responses for simple, 18.7 % for complex, and 32.2 % for repeated anaesthesia indicated that remote consent was in accordance with the law and was especially prevalent in countries with high GDPPC. Concerning the timing of consent, patients were informed at least one day before in 67.1 % for simple and in 85.2 % for complex procedures.
Even European countries with high GDPPC use remote informed consent only in a minority of cases and most of the time for repeated anaesthetic procedures. This might reflect the inconsistent legal situation and inhomogeneous medical technical structures across Europe.