title: Implied consent and nursing practice: ethical or convenient?
abstract: Nursing professionals in a variety of practice settings routinely use implied consent. This form of consent is used in place of or in conjunction with informed or explicit consent. This article looks at one aspect of a qualitative exploratory study conducted in a Day of Surgery Admission unit. This article focuses on the examination of nurses' understandings of implied consent and its use in patient care in nursing practice. Data were collected through one-on-one interviews and analysed using a thematic analysis. Nurses participating in this study revealed that they routinely used implied consent in their nursing practice. This article will look at whether implied consent supports or impedes a patient's autonomy.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of Ballarat, PO Box 663, University Drive, Mount Helen, Ballarat, Victoria 3353, Australia. c.cole@ballarat.edu.au
authors.forename: Clare A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Cole
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000523:psychology*; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D013527:Perioperative Nursing / Q000941:ethics*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses' / Q000941:ethics*; D019724:Presumed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D036301:Qualitative Research