How do UK Osteopaths gain consent for cervical manipulation? Comparing undergraduate and postgraduate practitioners.

Item

Title
How do UK Osteopaths gain consent for cervical manipulation? Comparing undergraduate and postgraduate practitioners.
Author(s)
Charles, M
Abstract
Background: Obtaining consent prior to the application of any therapeutic process or intervention is an ethical and legal requirement of all medical codes of conduct. UK law states that all relevant risks which a reasonable patient would want to know must be told to them. This is no less applicable to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professionals (including osteopaths) than it is to any other health professional. Informed consent, and risk disclosure is becoming increasingly important within osteopathy, especially in today's increasingly litigious society. Objective: To investigate any potential difference between postgraduate and undergraduate, UK osteopaths in their views and practices of informed consent prior to cervical spine manipulation. Design: A quantitative, cross sectional, questionnaire was used to measure undergraduate and postgraduate views surrounding informed consent within osteopathic practice. Method: An online questionnaire was sent to 2020 consenting members of the General Osteopathic Council and all clinical students at the European Forms The main outcome measures assessed were participants reported views and practices surrounding informed consent prior to manipulation of the cervical spine. The data collected was statistically analysed, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis and Dunnett tests were run using Analyse-it. Results: A response rate of 9% for the postgraduate group (n=180) and 47.75% for the undergraduate group (n=57) was achieved. Participants' responses were coded for ease of statistical analysis in relation to conformation to consent guidelines. Results demonstrate that the method used by undergraduate practitioners conform more closely to guidelines laid out by the GOsC and the GMC. Results also showed a statistically significant difference in how the undergraduate and postgraduate groups view the importancy of informed consent and some evidence for a decreased conformation to informed consent guidelines with increasing age. Discussion: Clinical application of informed consent is a field which CAM therapies need to be research more thoroughly, especially to be able to promote themselves and work closely with allopathic healthcare. As data surrounding the adverse events following cervical spine manipulation becomes more established, practitioners need to bring this into the treatment room to Provide best possible care for their patients improvements could have made in the design of the questionnaire and in the sample size in order to gain more reliable results. Conclusion: The null hypothesis "There is not a significant difference between the views and/or practices of UK Undergraduate and postgraduate osteopathic practitioners surrounding the informed consent process for cervical manipulations" can be rejected Results demonstrate that whilst undergraduate practitioners complied with guidelines more thoroughly than postgraduates there is still notable room for improvement. Further understanding of the clinical application of the informed consent process in CAM therapies is needed to enable the professions to improve osteopathic care.
presented at
European School of Osteopathy
Date Accepted
2015
Date Submitted
2.12.2016 16:54:59
Type
osteo_thesis
Language
English
Submitted by:
62
Pub-Identifier
15888
Inst-Identifier
1229
Keywords
Cross-sectional design, Informed consent, Osteopathy Undergraduate. Postgraduate, Performance
Recommended
0
Item sets
Thesis

Charles, M, “How do UK Osteopaths gain consent for cervical manipulation? Comparing undergraduate and postgraduate practitioners.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed June 14, 2024, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/593