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Informed Consent
Informed consent is a process of understanding and voluntary agreement to a particular intervention or activity.
#Consent is an ongoing conversation
Informed consent involves information, understanding and a voluntary choice. The GMC describes treatment decisions as an ongoing dialogue focused on the individual patient. OHRP likewise explains research consent as an exchange that continues through a study, rather than a signature alone.
The treatment and research settings have different purposes and rules. Read what the person is being asked to agree to and how questions can be discussed. A completed form does not by itself show that someone understood the options or chose freely.
Evidence: GMC: principles of decision making and consent / OHRP: informed consent as an ongoing process
#Options need benefits, harms and uncertainty
The GMC calls for discussion of the proposed options, reasonable alternatives and the option to take no action. Relevant information includes what an option involves, likely benefits, risks of harm and uncertainty. What matters to the patient helps determine which information is important.
Read whether the explanation distinguishes an expected benefit from a guarantee and makes the limits of knowledge clear. Population evidence does not settle one person's choice without their clinical circumstances and priorities. This page supplies no recommendation for an individual intervention.
#Understanding and voluntariness need support
The GMC emphasizes time, listening and support for understanding. Its dialogue guidance says not to pressure a patient to accept advice. OHRP describes understandable language, opportunities for questions and voluntariness as parts of research consent.
Read how the conversation accommodates language and communication needs and whether the person has space to consider the choice. More information is not automatically better information: unexplained technical terms or an overwhelming form can leave important questions unanswered.
Evidence: GMC: principles of decision making and consent / GMC: dialogue, options and patient priorities / OHRP: informed consent as an ongoing process
#A decision has a defined scope and context
The GMC links consent to the patient's treatment and care decision. OHRP notes that new information or changed research risks can require revisiting the consent process. Agreement to one activity should not be read as an unlimited agreement to different activities.
These sources illustrate UK professional guidance and US research protections. They are not a universal legal checklist, an account of every exception or a ruling on a particular person's consent. Mynd is explaining the concept, not obtaining consent for a care service or a study.
Evidence: GMC: principles of decision making and consent / OHRP: informed consent as an ongoing process
Source note
The sections above were checked against the linked sources. No clinical review has been performed. This is general research education, not a clinical guideline.