Biomaterial Database

Informed consent: essential legal and ethical principles for nurses. 2013

Juliet Battard Menendez

Author Affiliation: St. Lucie Medical Center, Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Before surgery, the informed consent process is the practical application of shared decision making between a surgeon and a patient. However, nurses, as enlightened patient advocates, also have an entrusted interest in fully understanding the legal and ethical considerations of the informed consent process. Some of the ethical principles impacting informed consent are existing cornerstones of professional nursing practice. Nevertheless, surgeons bear the ultimate responsibility for the informed consent process before surgery. The ideal completion of the informed consent process may be achieved if surgeons and knowledgeable nurses collaborate for the patient's good.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007258	Informed Consent	Voluntary authorization, by a patient or research subject, with full comprehension of the risks involved, for diagnostic or investigative procedures, and for medical and surgical treatment.	Consent, Informed
D009723	Nurse-Patient Relations	Interaction between the patient and nurse.	Nurse Patient Relations,Nurse Patient Relationship,Nurse Patient Relationships,Nurse-Patient Relation,Patient Relations, Nurse,Patient Relationship, Nurse,Patient Relationships, Nurse,Relations, Nurse Patient,Relations, Nurse-Patient,Relationship, Nurse Patient,Relationships, Nurse Patient
D003657	Decision Making	The process of making a selective intellectual judgment when presented with several complex alternatives consisting of several variables, and usually defining a course of action or an idea.	Credit Assignment,Assignment, Credit,Assignments, Credit,Credit Assignments
D004993	Ethics, Nursing	The principles of proper professional conduct concerning the rights and duties of nurses themselves, their patients, and their fellow practitioners, as well as their actions in the care of patients and in relations with their families.	Nursing Ethics,Ethic, Nursing,Nursing Ethic
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D024802	Nurse's Role	The expected function of a member of the nursing profession.	Nurse's Scope of Practice,Nurses Role,Nurses' Role,Nurse Role,Nurse Scope, Practice,Nurse's Roles,Nurses Roles,Nurses Scope, Practice,Nurses' Roles,Practice Nurse's Scope,Practice Nurse's Scopes,Role, Nurse's,Role, Nurses,Role, Nurses',Roles, Nurse's,Roles, Nurses,Roles, Nurses'