Informed Consent

Key Questions (by Anita Kallepalli and Shaily Pandey)

What Are the Rules for Informed Consent in Clinical Practice?

Informed consent for physicians differs slightly for each hospital, but federal standards must be achieved in all cases. There are many useful sources online to learn more about informed consent for a physician and how best to protect yourself from liability.

The American Medical Association website provides in-depth and concise about informed consent as well as what needs to be communicated to the patient when informing her/him of the risks involved in a procedure. It also provides a brief overview of litigation concerning informed consent and how best to protect you from it.

Another great way to get started learning about informed consent is to take this University of Virginia Health System tutorial. It provides introductory information about informed consent and then also provides case based questions to test yourself. It is mainly designed for residents and medical students.

What Are the Exceptions to Informed Consent?

New York’s Commission on Care has provided a great chart addressing how to obtain informed consent from those with mental disabilities. The University of Washington School of Medicine also has an excellent website covering all possibilities of informed consent exceptions, such as people who cannot give informed consent, or whose decision making capabilities frequently fluctuate.

What Are the Informed Consent Requirements for Human Subjects Research?

To get a better idea of what guidelines are required when obtaining informed consent, The US Department of Health and Human Services has a great website listing the regulations and federal codes involved with informed consent. This could definitely help when trying to avoid litigation due to malpractice. The Food and Drug Administration also has a website which gives researchers, especially those who chair Institutional Review Boards on how to conduct research studies involving human subjects. This can really help when beginning a research project and also understanding the different aspects involved in research with human subjects.