What Do You Understand By Informed Consent and How Do You Ensure It

What do you understand by Informed consent and how do you ensure it

Introduction

Communication between patients and practitioners is a central part of health care. Effective communication is essential, for example, for practitioners to understand the nature of a patient's problem and the patient's perception about his or her medical treatment. Explaining how subsequent illness might be averted or prevalent illness treated also requires effective communication. Failure to communicate effectively has numerous adverse effects, including patients' lack of understanding about the results of tests they have undergone, false and failed reassurance, non-adherence, and longer lengths of stay in hospital. Failed communication also lies at the heart of much litigation. In addition to that, it is claimed that the most appropriate way to communicate effectively and to inform the patient about medical treatments is through informed consent.

Informed consent can be defined as the method through which the patient agrees to take part in a treatment based on access to all relevant and easily digestible information about the meaning of his or her participation, especially in regard of harms and benefits.

The purpose of informed consent is to enable the patient to consider the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed medical treatment in order to decide to undergo or to refuse treatment. Proper use of this principle prevents or reduces the potential for error, negligence, coercion and disappointment and encourages the doctor to self-criticism. However, the goals of a doctor are, in fact, to assert the autonomy to the patient, promoting their right to self-determination, to protect and respect their status as human beings and not as objects. Therefore, the doctrine of informed consent requires the doctor to give the patient all the information needed for making an intelligent decision about the care and medical treatment.

There are some consistent elements or factors which can help a medical practitioner to ensure that he has achieved the informed consent of the patient. Some of these factors are mentioned below:

The rights of patients should be respected and supported about their decision to accept or reject the treatment and care.

The rights of patients should be fully involved in decisions about their care.

The doctor must be able to demonstrate that he has acted in the best interest of the patient, in case of an emergency.

Apart from above mentioned guidelines, there is a detailed way of ensuring informed consent, which is discussed later.

Discussion

Key Factors

The key factors that are needed to ensure informed consent are as follows:

Involvement of the patient throughout the treatment

Involvement of a broad range of clinical experts

Doctor must be specific about the purpose of the information and the patient

Consideration of information needs of minority groups

Evidence about clinical research should be reviewed, and systematic reviews should be used wherever possible

Planning about the use of materials within a wider program for promoting shares decision making

Evaluation of materials and their use

Arrangements for periodic reviews must be made and updated

The content

The question of the patient must be used ...