The patient who is unable to consent to nursing care.
The aim of this paper is to examine the way in which nurses manage patients who are unable to consent to nursing care procedures. This paper reports on a qualitative study using focus groups and critical incidents collected through in-depth interviews to explore the way in which nurses obtain consent prior to nursing care procedures. The finding indicate that nurses are uneasy about administering care to a patient who cannot consent. When complicating factors are present this unease is exacerbated and sometimes the appropriate delivery of care is withheld.
Aveyard
Helen
H
School of Healthcare, Oxford Brookes University, Heritage Gate, Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, Cowley, Oxford OX4 6LB, UK. haveyard@brookes.ac.uk
D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D015400:Clinical Nursing Research / Q000941:ethics; D004993:Ethics, Nursing; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology*; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology; D026684:Personal Autonomy