I-Med consents

[rnmontana12]

Is anyone using I-Med consents in radiology. My hospital has now stated that i-med consents must be used for all procedures, and that they will no longer be accepting paper consents. My questions are:

1. CT contrast consents. We all know that in many facilities the tech gets the consent (they know the reactions risk/benefits better than most) and the radiologist signs sometime during the day. Is this really the best care for our patients? (meaning not having the radiologist explaine the risk/benefit, complications, other options portion). With the i-med consent the rad/witness/patient all sign at the same time.

2. What do you do when the computer that the i-med pad is attached to is out of the treatment area? Do we really want to track patients through the other non-public areas of the department to have them sign?

3. I work with a very difficult group of radiologists that often refuse to consent their own patients. They are now telling me that they will have the requesting physician sign the consent when they order the procedure.

I thought the physician doing the procedure had to sign the consent? With the i-med system all three people have to sign at the same time (this makes sense to me because that means that the patient is getting the opportunity to ask questions, and it is the best quality of care). My radiologists are saying that they will refuse to do the procedure if the consent is not signed by the requesting Doc.

At my hospital we have one radiologist in the building. That rad is responsible for all image reading (ct, mr, us, etc), along with all special/diagnostic procedures. I can see why they are not wanting to do the i-med consent, I can only imagine the "patient flow nightmare".

I am also meeting great resistance from all of the other staff, saying "this is impossible, what if....", and the like. I have been told from IRM that the i-med system has been in use in other facilities for over 4 years!!!!

Can anyone help me?