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legal

Exploring the concept of ‘informed consent’ within the context of paramedic practice

02 July 2020

Features

02 July 2020

Volume 12 · Issue 7

ISSN (print): 1759-1376

ISSN (online): 2041-9457

Abstract

The phrase ‘informed consent’ is used widely in healthcare. Practitioners ask their patients for their consent to a treatment or a diagnostic or monitoring procedure and, if consent is given, will document this. There is a general understanding that consent is a prerequisite for care and signifies the patient’s permission for the paramedic to proceed with assessments and other therapeutic interventions. Obtaining the patient’s informed consent is fundamental to contemporary healthcare: what is informed consent and why is it so important? This article explores the meaning of consent in practice and the purpose it serves. It will then go on to consider complex circumstances, including emergencies, young people aged under 18 years, when a patient is unable to give consent or where a person has capacity to consent but refuses.

After completing this module, the paramedic will be able to:

Paramedics know it is essential to obtain a patient’s consent before proceeding with any form of diagnostic or therapeutic intervention. They will ask the patient’s permission before undertaking a 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) or taking a finger-prick blood sample to evaluate blood glucose levels. It is expected that the patient will ordinarily be asked for their agreement before clothing is cut away to enable comprehensive assessment in the trauma setting, or being transferred to hospital for further investigations.

The need to obtain the patient’s informed consent is stipulated by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) within both its Standards of Proficiency—Paramedics (HCPC, 2014) and the Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics (HCPC, 2016). Why is this so important and what does ‘informed consent’ (HCPC, 2014: 7) actually mean?

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