title: Informed consent in emergency care research: An oxymoron?
abstract: Emergency care needs to be underpinned by the highest quality evidence. However, research involving critically ill patients in the emergency setting has unique ethical, logistical and regulatory issues. Informed consent is a well-established principle in conventional research. In this article, we discuss informed consent as it pertains to the difficulties of research in the emergency setting. Alternatives to informed consent are discussed. Human research ethics committees require a greater understanding of consent issues in emergency care research for Australia to remain competitive internationally.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, The Townsville Hospital, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.|College of Public Health and Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.|College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Jeremy S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Furyk
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, The Townsville Hospital, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.|College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, Townsville, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Luke D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Lawton
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Mater Health Service, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.|School of Public Health and Social Work, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Joseph Ys
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Ting
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Austin Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.|Department of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: McD Taylor
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D032984:Ethics, Research; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics / Q000592:standards*; D012106:Research / Q000592:standards*
keywords: emergency medicine; ethics; informed consent; research