Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Jun 28.
Published in final edited form as: Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf. 2018 May 3;44(6):343–352. doi: 10.1016/j.jcjq.2017.11.010

Table 2.

Health Care Professionals’ Perspectives on Use of Informed Consent Best Practices

Always or Usually Used the Following Best Practices Clinician Self-Report of Practices (n = 20) Clinician Report on Other Clinicians’ Practices (n = 20) HCP Report on Clinicians’ Practices (n = 222) Difference Between Clinician Self-Report & Report on Other Clinicians’ Practices Difference Between Clinician Self-Report & HCP Report on Clinicians’ Practices
Assess patient’s decision-making capacity 95.0 90.0 77.4 −5.0 −17.6
Allocate ample time in private space. 95.0 80.0 66.5 −15.0 −28.5*
Use health literacy universal precautions. 70.0 65.0 57.8 −5.0 −12.2
Call for qualified interpreter when patient speaks a different language. 95.0 85.0 71.2 −10.0 −23.8
Offer choices, including the option of doing nothing. 95.0 80.0 61.8 −15.0 −33.2*
Engage patients, family, friends in the consent discussion. 85.0 60.0 70.6 −25.0 −14.4
Elicit goals and values. 85.0 65.0 58.2 −20.0 −26.8
Encourage questions. 95.0 85.0 81.6 −10.0 −13.4
Neutrally explain benefits, harms, and risks of all options. 90.0 85.0 75.8 −5.0 −14.2
Use high-quality patient decision aids. 55.0 52.6 44.1 −2.4 −10.9
Use teach-back technique to check understanding. 40.0 30.0 47.3 −10.0 7.3
Document consent discussion. 75.0 50.0 39.3 −25.0 −35.7*
Ask patients to confirm consent immediately before test, treatment, or procedure when consent has been given in advance. 90.0 85.0 56.6 −5.0 −33.4*
*

p ≤ 0.01.

p ≤ 0.05.

Note: Clinicians include physicians, independent physician assistants, and independent nurse practitioners who conduct informed consent discussions. HCP refers to other health care professionals, such as nurses.