Nursing Skill

Informed consent is a legal doctrine in the United States and primarily has focused on disclosure because of a physician’s general obligation to exercise reasonable care in providing information (Beauchamp &ump; Childress, 2009). Informed consent plays a critical role in health care. Without adequate way for healthcare providers to deliver information, many patients will have no basis for any kind of decision making (Beauchamp &ump; Childress, 2009). Informed consent is a legal as well as an ethical issue of autonomy in regard to a patient’s treatment (Rich, 2008). Essentially, informed consent is respect for a patient’s autonomy to make personal decisions based on the appropriate appraisal of information about the actual and potential circumstances of a situation (Rich, 2008). The phrase “informed consent” has three basic elements that must take place, in order for informed consent to occur.
The first phase of informed consent is to be receipt of information. When the doctor shares information and advises the patient of necessary information for the patient to make an informed decision about medical treatment is receipt of information. Giving patients an opportunity to explore their options and to raise any questions is the basic part of an informed consent. For instance, description of the expected benefits, risks, and reasonable alternatives to the treatment should be specifically tailored to the patient’s personal circumstances (Rich, 2008).
The second element necessary for informed consent is consent for the treatment must be voluntary. To accomplish consent, depending on the circumstances, the patient must agree to participate in the discussed treatment, which may be verbalized, implied by behavior, or written (Rich, 2008). Consent is only valid if it is given free of coercion or unwarranted influence (Simpson, 2011). Therefore, if the patient is persuaded by, for example, a family member, then the consent is invalid.
The third element necessary is the