Psychiatrists' Documentation of Informed Consent: A Representative Survey

Abstract

M edical practitioners obtain informed consent for treatment prior to all medical interventions. This process reflects our respect for the autonomy of the individual. The elements of informed consent are that the patient has the capacity or ability to consent, that the individual has received an adequate disclosure of the relevant information, and that the patient provides consent voluntarily (1). The informed consent process gives patients information about the nature of the proposed treatment, the benefits and risks of the proposed treatment, and the benefits and risks of alternative treatments, including the option of no treatment. The standard of disclosure is to disclose the information that a reasonable patient in the patient's situation would want to have to make an informed decision (2,3). Canadian judicial decisions have stated that all material risks need to be disclosed as part of the informed consent disclosure (3,4). Informed consent therefore permits patients to make treatment decisions according to their own values and beliefs. The informed consent process for antipsychotic medications is particularly important and complex, for several reasons. First, many patients for whom antipsychotic medications are prescribed have schizophrenia. Although many patients with

Improving recording of capacity to consent and explanation of medication side effects in a psychiatric service for people with learning disability: Audit findings

“…The wide variation in the level of capacity encountered made it difficult to standardize the consent procedure. Such variation has been noted in previous studies (Schachter and Kleinman, 2006). Laugharne et al (1996) recommend that the discussion about consent is recorded in the clinical record rather than on standardized forms.…”