The autonomy of hospitalized patients in presurgical situation

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the patients' perception of his autonomy in the preoperative period during hospitalization in the surgery wards of a university hospital.The Collective Subject's Discourse was used as a methodological resource, and Bioethics with emphasis on the autonomy principle was employed for discourse analysis. Twenty patients aged more than 18 years old who had been hospitalized under preoperative conditions for longer than three days were interviewed. Some fragility was observed in the individuals' autonomy, once their knowledge on the procedures to which they would be submitted showed to be rather incipient. Considering that autonomy is only possible in a society where people's rights and citizenship are respected, and where equal access to education, information and healthcare is provided, we conclude that such conditions are necessary for a more symmetrical relationship between healthcare professionals and patients. This would make it possible to overcome the paternal and authoritarian existing model.