title: The patient who is unable to consent to nursing care.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: School of Healthcare, Oxford Brookes University, Heritage Gate, Sandy Lane West, Littlemore, Cowley, Oxford OX4 6LB, UK. haveyard@brookes.ac.uk
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aveyard
mesh_terms: 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