Not just for surgeons: A qualitative exploration of the surgical consent process

Background

Obtaining consent for surgery is a legal requirement and a professional practice standard, but little is known about how nurses and other healthcare professionals (HCPs) engage with this process.

Aim

To describe operating room (OR) HCPs’ perceptions of consent processes for adult patients undergoing planned surgery at one health service.

Methods

A qualitative exploratory design and purposive maximum variation sampling relative to age, discipline, experience, and role, were used to ensure broad perspectives were gathered. Semi-structured interviews with 17 OR HCPs were conducted between April and May 2021.

Findings

Thematic analysis identified three themes: the HCPs’ role in verifying consent goes beyond the World Health Organization’s Surgical Safety Checklist, effective communication is crucial for obtaining and verifying consent, and day-of-surgery delays and errors are multi-factorial.

Discussion

Production pressures in surgery can compromise consent processes, undermine communication, and impact patient safety in the OR.

Conclusion

HCPs verify more items than the World Health Organization Surgical Safety Checklist, suggesting the checklist may not go far enough when verifying consent in surgery.