Your Role in Informed Consent

Part 2

Abstract

This is the second of a 2-part article discussing the critical care nurse's role in informed consent. The first part presented the role of the nurse when seeking or witnessing a patient's consent for a medical, surgical, or nursing procedure. Although there are some similarities, the role of the critical care nurse in obtaining consent for a research study or clinical trial does vary somewhat. This article will discuss the components of the informed consent document for a clinical trial as well as the responsibilities of the critical care nurse.

In Brief

Critical care nurses are often asked to either witness or obtain informed consent from patients for routine procedures and research studies. This second article of two focuses on the role of the critical care nurse in obtaining and/or witnessing consent for clinical research studies.