Informed consent: a study of the OR consenting process in New Zealand

The outcome of the informed consenting process should be that patients are knowledgeable about their future procedure, but there is no guarantee that signing the informed consent form means that patients have understood the information that their health care providers have given to them. To evaluate the informed consenting process in an OR direct admissions department of a city hospital in New Zealand, we interviewed 18 surgical patients. We transcribed the audiotaped interviews and analyzed the data using a general inductive approach derived from Grounded Theory. Our analysis indicated that educational information was not always based on patients' previous knowledge or understanding, although most patients understood the surgical consenting process to be complete after they met with the physician and signed the form. Our study highlights that although patients spoke with their physicians and nurses, there was still a lack of understanding. Perioperative nurses are in a prime position to reinforce informed consent. They should actively support the consenting process and be proactive in collaborating with patients and physicians to ultimately ensure that the patient has every opportunity to make an informed decision.