Abstract
Pamphlets are very important for gaining informed consent for anesthesia. I therefore compared Japanese and German “explanatory pamphlets related to anesthesia”. Based on this, I introduced an “explanatory pamphlet related to anesthesia” in Suita Municipal Hospital. To ensure that patients and their families agreed to anesthesia after understanding it adequately, I adopted the following methodology: 1) The surgeon gave the pamphlet to the patient following the decision to perform surgery, so the patient could read it before admission, 2) After admission, the anesthetist met with the patient, explained anesthesia to him/her, answered questions, and gave the consent form to him/her the day before surgery, and 3) After thinking about it, the patient signed it and gave it to the ward nurse. When I informed patients of the rate of incidents probably due to anesthesia, I worried that more would decline it. However, informing patients of this rate made them understand anesthesia better, and patients no longer disagreed with undergoing anesthesia. Japanese anesthesiologists should consider informing patients of the rate of incidents probably due to anesthesia in each hospital admitted by the Japanese Society of Anesthesiologists, and answer questions from patients not only generally, but specifically and individually as well.
