nurses on the front line of surgical consent

This Australian study examines healthcare professionals’ perceptions of obtaining patient consent during planned surgery. Using an exploratory qualitative approach with semi-structured interviews with surgeons, anesthetists and nurses, the study reveals several key points.

Verifying patient consent is an important step before any surgical intervention. In this study, healthcare professionals, particularly nurses, often went beyond standard World Health Organization (WHO) requirements, including using the correct form, documenting risks and benefits, verifying signatures and dates. These additional checks, although not officially documented, nurses say, are essential for patient safety.

Importance of effective communication

Communication with patients is fundamental. It must be adapted to the patients’ level of understanding, language barriers and their decision-making capacity.

« You forget that these are people who don’t necessarily have any medical understanding… You have to make sure that your language is very simple… You can write whatever you want, but if the patient doesn’t understand what he’s talking about… consent, it’s still not consent » says a surgeon. Additionally, discussing private information in an open environment can undermine communication during consent, potentially making the patient less informed.

Open communication between team members is essential to avoid errors, facilitated by the use of electronic medical records. On the other hand, compartmentalized communication between different disciplines increases the risk of errors.

Factors contributing to delays and errors

Several factors can contribute to delays and errors in the process of obtaining consent, including production pressures, fatigue due to the repetitive nature of tasks, lack of experience of young practitioners, and delays between obtaining consent initial and surgery.

In conclusion, obtaining and verifying surgical consent are complex processes with important implications for patient safety and legal aspects. The study highlights the need for a balance between operational efficiency and rigor of consent processes, highlighting the need for further research to improve these processes in the context of planned surgeries.

The authors make several recommendations to improve the consent process for patients in planned surgery:

1. They suggest maintaining and encouraging nurses’ vigilance when verifying consent.
2. They also recommend developing interdisciplinary educational programs combining theory and practice on the processes of obtaining consent.
3. They recommend improving interprofessional communication.
4. They highlight the importance of paying particular attention to training young practitioners on obtaining consent.
5. They suggest further research, including patient perspectives and the impact of additional checks on safety.