Introduction
Ignorance, illiteracy, high age are obstacles for a proper decision based in principles that respect individual values and independence.
Objective
Analyse elderly empowerment in their decision making process and find if the informed consent was applied in a participatory manner.
Material and Methods
Prospective study, between July and November 2017, of surgical ophthalmic patients with ≥65 years. Telephone interview.
Work instruments: Six Item Cognitive Impairment Test (CIT), Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS), Degner Scale, Questionnaire about decision making involvement.
Demographic variables: age, sex, residence, scholarship and family and domestic profile.
Statistical analysis with SPSS, significant value with p<0,05.
Excluded: urgencies, cognitive and communicative deficits.
Results
From the initial 1195 patients, 773 didn´t answer the phone/wrong number. 24 were excluded for dementia/cognitive deficit (CIT>10). Final sample 307.
Most were women 51%, with average age of 75 years, basic education 70,4%, married 78,8%, rural residence 63,2%.
Clinical profile: Chronic disease 80,5%, GDS<5 80,5%.
Participation profile: Likes to participate 45,9%; feels that participating improves motivation 34,2% and therapeutic success 19,5%; never had motivation to participate from his doctor 23,8% and family show support in 45,6%.
Regarding decision making 53,1% prefers leave all decisions for doctor. Depressed patients were the ones who most answered that they would never like to participate in decision making process (p<0,001) and were who lesser understand the information received (p<0,001).
Patients with low scholarship (p<0,001), widowers (p=0,006) and rural residence (p<0,001) prefer leave all decisions to doctor. Depressed patients have a tendency to like that doctors decide after hearing their opinion (p=0,09; AR 3,1).
There were no significant association between decision making, gender and previous disease.


Conclusion
High age, prevalent chronic disease, few patients with cognitive deficit and depression. Most of them would like to participate in their treatment decision due to improved satisfaction, motivation and better chance of a successful treatment. Unlike expected, these same patients rather like to leave all decisions to health professionals.


02 / Elderly empowerment in ophthalmic surgery: Informed consent and shared decision