The Methodist Hospital System. Leading Medicine
The Methodist Hospital System. Leading Medicine

Nursing

Informed Consent

Informed Consent is a legal process that requires the treating physician or proceduralist (physician or APN/PA as per policy PC/PS23) to provide a patient with all relevant information about a proposed procedure or treatment prior to obtaining the consent of the patient to carry out the procedure or treatment.

The following are four items of information that must be provided:

  • Nature of the procedure
  • Risks
  • Benefits
  • Availability of alternative treatment (including no treatment) and the risks and benefits thereof.

Informed consent protects the patient by providing him/her with complete information on which to make a well-informed decision. Informed consent is a two part process, one element involves the form for documentation purposes but the most important piece of the process is the conversation between the practitioner and the patient regarding the procedure/treatment.