Survey of veterinary clients' perceptions of informed consent at a referral hospital

Whiting, Martin; Alexander, Akash; Habiba, Marwan; Volk, Holger A.

doi:10.1136/vr.104039

Cited by 6 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Regarding the purpose of consent, the views of interview participants concurred with previous medical and veterinary research in holding that its primary purpose is to 'protect' the professionals involved (Akkad et al, 2006;Whiting et al, 2017). Participants suggested that consent conversations should include disclosure of specific risks, although there were strikingly differing opinions regarding how much respect should be given to client autonomy.…”

Section: Conceptual Description Of Consentmentioning

confidence: 84%

Researching consent in veterinary practice: The use of interpretive description as a multidisciplinary methodology

Gray

2020

Methodological Innovations

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Informed consent in the veterinary sphere has been surprisingly under-researched, despite it being a professional ethical requirement. As consent is given by animal owners on behalf of patients who are unable to consent for themselves, its underpinning ethical basis cannot exactly mirror consent given by adult human patients with capacity. Any attempt to research consent in the veterinary context requires consideration of its legal, ethical and practical applications. This investigation of consent practices in veterinary settings in the United Kingdom was undertaken using interpretation of medicolegal cases, together with three discrete empirical studies comprising the textual analysis of consent forms, consent discussions for the elective neutering of companion animal patients, and interviews with key participants in the consent process. The chosen approach required a methodology that would facilitate triangulation between empirical data analysis and doctrinal legal research. Here, I describe the first use of interpretive description as a methodology of veterinary socio-legal studies, in the context of practice-based research. With foundations in traditional social science methodologies such as hermeneutics, grounded theory, ethnography and symbolic interactionism, interpretive description provided a multi-disciplinary methodological perspective. Its underpinning methodologies informed the methods that were used for data collection, and for subsequent analysis. I combined interpretation of legal decisions and professional ethical guidance with thematic surveys of empirical data to reach higher levels of analysis. The resulting conceptual description of consent in veterinary practice enabled the production of normative guidance appropriate for those in practice, thus fulfilling the methodological aims of interpretive description. Specifically, the key findings were that the consent form should act as a fuller record of the consent discussion, that attention should be paid to achieving an appropriate balance between client autonomy and patient ‘best interests’ and that consent should provide protection to all three parties (client, patient and veterinary professional).

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Section: Conceptual Description Of Consentmentioning

confidence: 84%

Researching consent in veterinary practice: The use of interpretive description as a multidisciplinary methodology

Gray

2020

Methodological Innovations

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“… 24 The legalistic appearance and language may contribute to clients’ belief that the form is designed to protect the veterinary practice. 13 …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Clients may not read the form carefully, assuming that they must sign the form to allow the procedure to go ahead, or they may be either falsely reassured or confused by the legal terminology 24. The legalistic appearance and language may contribute to clients’ belief that the form is designed to protect the veterinary practice 13…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…12 This 'harm avoidance' role is reinforced by a study conducted at a large veterinary referral hospital, which found that one-third of respondents thought consent forms were used to protect the veterinary surgeon, and one-ifth thought their main purpose was to protect the hospital. 13 The utility of veterinary consent forms has been investigated in the research setting, but only in the USA. Using grade-level readability measures, this study found that veterinary forms have lower readability than their human medical research equivalents.…”

Section: The Consent Form In Human Healthcarementioning

confidence: 99%

“…24 The legalistic appearance and language may contribute to clients' belief that the form is designed to protect the veterinary practice. 13 At some point in every form analysed, the client was asked to formally give consent to the proposed treatment, an action that also required conirmation of their suitability to consent, as the owner (or owner's agent) of the animal patient.…”

Section: The Role Of the Form In Authorising Treatmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of the consent form in UK veterinary practice

Gray

2020

Veterinary Record

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BackgroundInformed consent from the client is required before veterinary professionals may administer treatment or perform surgery on an animal patient, except in an emergency. This study investigates the potential role(s) of the consent form in the consent process in the UK.MethodsThematic analysis was carried out on the text contained in 39 blank consent forms sourced from veterinary practices in the UK. Analysis was conducted at the levels of topical survey and thematic summary.ResultsConsent forms were used to authorise procedures, to define proposed treatment, to offer or recommend additional procedures, to convey the risks of treatment and to document the client’s financial obligations. None of the forms analysed provided sufficient space to document the accompanying conversation. Notable omissions from the submitted forms included options for treatment and benefits of treatment.ConclusionsThe consent form acts as a record of the procedure to be performed, the associated costs and the status of the person giving consent. However, from this analysis, it often fails to record the detail of the consent discussion, an essential part of the consent process. A proposal for an improved version of a veterinary consent form is provided.

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Veterinary Ethics and the Law

and¹,

Favre²

2022

Ethics in Veterinary Practice

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Survey of veterinary clients' perceptions of informed consent at a referral hospital

Cited by 6 publications

References 18 publications

Researching consent in veterinary practice: The use of interpretive description as a multidisciplinary methodology

Researching consent in veterinary practice: The use of interpretive description as a multidisciplinary methodology

Role of the consent form in UK veterinary practice

Veterinary Ethics and the Law

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