Informed Consent

I was told that the nurse should be the witness, but only witness if the patient understands the procedure. If they don't understand, it is the physician's responsibility to teach the patient about the procedure. I don't have a source or text, this is just something I remember so idk if you should quote me on that lol.

It is the Physician/Surgeons role to explain the procedure to the client and nurses' duty to ensure one is obtained before the client is sedated.

The nurse who obtains informed consent will read through the consent form with the client and answer questions about the contents of the form (remember, even though the form states the procedure to be performed, and who will be performing it, it is the surgeon's responsibility to explain exactly what this procedure is for, the expected outcomes or benefits and possible risks).

If the client agrees with what's on the form and has no questions for the surgeon, s/he signs the form.

The nurse who reviewed the form to the client and witnessed the client signing the form, will then co-sign the form.

ok MD is the teacher and nurse just clarifies the consent. thanks guys!

Another thing to remember about informed consent is that if at any time the RN believes that the patient does not, in fact, understand what's about to happen, s/he has a legal and moral obligation to inform the physician to come and explain it again, even if the patient has already signed a consent and somebody has witnessed it. I have seen this happen many times. The physician doesn't like it, but if s/he didn't do a good enough job of explaining, it's still on him/her to do a better one.

The physician obtains consent. The nurse may witness that consent has been obtained. That does not mean the physician finds you and says, "I just told Mr. Jones about his operation. Can you sign this?" No. You didn't witness the patient's teaching or his signature, so you can't sign it.