Would you witness a consent without all info filled out?

[mama_d]

The radiology group at my facility has recently demanded that when we get consents signed for procedures that we leave the doctor's name space blank so that they can fill in the specific doctor when the patient comes down. I can understand wanting to have the specific doc's name in there, but on the other hand, the consent does specify that another doctor may perform the procedure as appropriate. We usually put in the ordering MD's name and explain to the patient that a specially trained interventional radiologist will do the actual procedure, but that we are not privy to who it is prior to the procedure being done. I am not comfortable putting my signature to a legal document, knowing that someone else will be filling in a blank on it at a later time. Heck, I even won't get anesthesia consents if the anesthesia group hasn't talked to the patient yet; I don't know enough about the anesthesia process to be in any way able to give informed consent on it.

Management's opinion seems to be that those nurses who are not comfortable with this new process are making a mountain out of a molehill...I say it's a legal document which should not be altered after I witness the patient's signature, unless there is a process put in place whereby those who do said altering take responsibility for their changes to it. It would simplify things if they would just call and let us know who was scheduled to do what, but apparently that's just asking the impossible.

What do you all think? Am I being too anal, or do you feel that this is a legit issue I'm having?

[Batman24]

Well if that's true, then who is actually explaining the procedure to the patient?

The doctor doing the procedure has to explain it. The patient and the witness shouldn't be signing before that happens. The nurses who are refusing to sign are 100% right here. They are smart to protect their license and themselves from a potential lawsuit here. If the CN or their superior wants to do it let them sign it instead. I would continue to refuse.

[ERjodiRN]

We have had some issues regarding consents before and in talking iwth our risk management people we were told that we are NOT obtaining the consent, we are simply witnessing that the person signing the document is the patient or responsible person. In that case I wouldn't worry about the information on the form as that is the doctor's responsibility. As long as the person signing is legally able to sign for that patient, you are saying that the signing is good.

that really surprises me. for me, i would not let my patient sign that document unless everything had already been explained. you are not just witnessing that the signature is "good", you're saying that what they signed was accurate. that is NOT just up to the MD. maybe your IC form is different than ours, i don't know.

[HonestRN]

No. Never.

[Scrubby]

Sounds dodgy to me.

Do you guys have to sign the consent as witness in the US? I've never signed a consent form in my life, I check that the consent is complete, ask the patient/guardian what procedure are they going to have but there is no requirement for a nurse to witness the actual signing of the consent at all.

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

Well if that's true, then who is actually explaining the procedure to the patient?

The doctor performing the procedure.

[tvccrn, ASN, RN]

that really surprises me. for me, i would not let my patient sign that document unless everything had already been explained. you are not just witnessing that the signature is "good", you're saying that what they signed was accurate. that is NOT just up to the MD. maybe your IC form is different than ours, i don't know.

I never said that nothing was explained, the doctor is responsible for explaining the procedure to that pateint and we are there when that happens. I said that we witness that the person signing had the right to sign for that patient.