title: The significance and applications of informed consent.
abstract: Bringing well-informed patients to the OR is a challenge for all who participate in surgical patients' care. Although the issue of informed consent has been around for a long time, it was not until the latter half of the twentieth century that health care professionals and patients began to focus on informed consent as a central concern in health care. This article explains the roots of informed consent, the path it has traveled, and the importance that health care professionals, especially perioperative nurses, play in ensuring that patients are fully informed about their impending procedures.
authors.affiliation: Urologic Surgical Services, St Joseph Hospital, Orange, CA, USA.
authors.forename: N E
authors.initials: NE
authors.lastname: Brazell
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D030881:Disclosure; D028663:Ethical Theory; D004992:Ethics, Medical / Q000266:history*; D004993:Ethics, Nursing / Q000266:history; D005060:Europe; D049671:History, 18th Century; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000266:history / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D028701:Patient Rights; D013527:Perioperative Nursing; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States