Background Informed consent (IC) is a healthcare standard emphasizing the meaning of human dignity as clarified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Data about IC practices in Egypt is insufficient. This study aimed to assess the Egyptian patients’/guardians’ experiences about IC and their expectations about its practices’ purposes in general and according to the type of the healthcare facility. Methods Self-administered questionnaire was carried out for 1092 participants who had undergone or were scheduled to a procedure requiring an IC at three studied types for Egyptian health care facilities. Ten statements were ranked twice by the participants to reflect their perception of IC purpose as per what is currently practiced and what they believe should be practiced. Results IC implementation varies significantly (p<0.05) across the health care facilities in Egypt. The percentage of its implementation at the non-governmental facilities, governmental facilities, and university hospital was 85.9%, 77.8%, and 63.8 respectively. The first three ranked purposes of the current IC practices were: “Helping patient/guardian decide (64.9%)”, “Documenting patient’s/guardian’s decision (59.3%)”, and “Having shared decision (57.3%)”. The perceived purposes of IC to be practiced were: “Informing the patient/guardian (68.4%)”, “Making sure patient/guardian understand (65.3%)” and “Documenting patients/guardians decisions (65.1%)”. “Being a meaningless routine” was reported by the majority to be ranked as a low purpose for IC current and preferred practices. Conclusion The practice of IC is common within the Egyptian medical community. Participants believe that information disclosure “Making sure patients understand” has to help in IC decision making and its main purpose. However, unfortunately, this is not perceived as a current purpose of IC. There was consensus agreement that documenting the patient’s/guardian’s decision and informing the patient/guardian are perceived as both important current and preferred purposes for IC practices.

Background: Organ donation has become one of the most effective ways to save lives and improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage organ failure. No previous studies have investigated the preferences for the different consenting options for organ donation in Egypt. This study aims to assess Egyptians' preferences regarding consenting options for posthumous organ donation, and measure their awareness and acceptance of the Egyptian law articles regulating organ donation. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 2743 participants over two years. Each participant was required to rank eleven consenting options from 1 (most preferred) to 11 (least preferred), and to report his awareness and acceptance of the seven articles of the Egyptian law of organ donation. Results: 47% of the participants expressed willingness to donate their organs after death. This percentage increased to 78% when consenting options were explained to participants. "Informed consent by donor only" was the most preferred type of consent for one third of respondents. Awareness of the law articles regulating organ donation was relatively low ranging from 56% to 23%. Conclusion: Currently, around half of the Egyptian population agree to posthumous organ donation. This percentage could be increased significantly by raising the awareness about how the process of donation could be regulated and how the patient's right of decision could be protected.

Background: Organ donation has become one of the most effective ways in developing and developed countries to save lives and improve the quality of life for patients with end-stage organ failure. No previous studies investigated either the Egyptians’ perception or preferences about different consenting options for organ donation. This study aims to assess Egyptian personal preferences and public perception of norm on several consenting options for posthumous organ donation, and measure the awareness and acceptance of the public to Egyptian law articles regulating organ donation. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted along two years among 2743 participants. Participants were chosen from governmental and non-governmental facilities as well as from the general public. Each participant was required to complete the study questionnaire which included demographic characteristics, personal preferences and public norms of eleven consenting options arranged from 1 (most preferred) to 11 (least preferred), and awareness and acceptance of the seven articles of Egyptian laws concerning organ donation. Results: About 78% of the respondents expressed willingness to donate their organs after death while 22% were not willing to donate. Out of donation preferences, informed consent by donor only was a preferable choice, where about one third of respondents assigned to this option the highest ranking scores (31% as a personal preference and 31.6 % for the public norm). There was no difference between males and females or between personal preferences and perception of norms in consenting systems ranking. The awareness for the targeted Egyptian laws regarding organ donation after death was relatively low ranging from 56% to 23%. Conclusion: Informed consent by donor only was the preferable choice as personal preference and as norm. The choice of consenting options did not vary with gender, education or employment. Increasing the awareness of Egyptians on the articles of the law of organ donation is highly needed.