On understanding the Informed Consent Process in medical care services

FORMAT | Poster paper

LANGUAGE | English

HOW TO CITE| Frunză. A., & SANDU, Antonio. (2016). On understanding the Informed Consent Process in medical care services. Prezentat la 13th World Congres of Bioethics, IAB 2016, 14-17 June, Edinburgh.

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ABSTRACT:

Research problem: We aim to identify how Informed Consent (IC) is understood by professionals in the medical field, particularly in the medical care institutions of the North Eastern region of Romania. We are interested in identifying if the medical staff that applies IC as an ethical tool has knowledge – and are willing to apply such knowledge in their daily practice – of bioethical principles which are/should be the basis for adopting and implementing such a tool. We would like to explore whether or not IC is understood by medical staff as a means of respecting patients’ autonomy, or acting as a protective measure for health care staff in the face of potential future medical negligence claims and/or claims from patients about treatment performed or not, and to the change in the patient’s state of health after medical intervention.
Methodology: For the identification of meanings attributed to IC as an ethical tool by health professionals in medical research institutions, we will develop individual interviews and analyse the subsequent data using a Grounded Theory (GT) qualitative approach. The research doesn’t aim to validate a hypothesis, but to identify the meaning given to ethical tools by the professionals who are using them.
Conclusion: The analysis is intended to generate the discursive frame of the research and the theoretical corpus, including models with the value of hypotheses, in order to generate further research into the ethical conformity of care practices, or the need for ethical training in the field.

KEYWORDS:

Informed Consent Process; medical care services; respecting patients’ autonomy.