This document discusses confidentiality and informed consent in nursing. It defines confidentiality as protecting personal patient information and informed consent as a process of getting permission for healthcare procedures by educating patients on risks, benefits, and alternatives. The importance of confidentiality is to protect privacy, reputation, and prevent misuse of information, while informed consent creates trust, respects autonomy, and ensures understanding. Ethical and legal elements of informed consent include providing information, assessing patient competence and autonomy. Nurses' roles are to understand legal guidelines and facilitate informed consent processes, especially in special circumstances.

1. SADIQ ALI CHANDIO
NURSING INSTRUCTOR
CON MALE LARKANA
Unit -04
confidentiality and informed consent

2. OBJECTIVES
 Define confidentiality and informed consent
 Discuss importance of confidentiality and consent.
 List ethical and legal elements of informed consent
 Discuss process of informed consent
 Discuss nurse's roles and responsibilities of in
consent process

3. CONFIDENTIALITY?
 Confidentiality means protecting personal
information.
 Patient confidentiality refers to the right of
patients to keep their records private
 Confidentiality is an important ethical principle
in nursing.
 It is an important legal and medical obligation
that all health professionals are supposed to
obey.

4.  The ethical principle or legal right that a
physician or other health care professional will
hold secret all information related to a patient
unless the patient gives consent permitting
disclosure” (American Heritage Medical
Dictionary 2007)

5. INFORMED CONSENT?
 Informed consent is a process for getting
permission before conducting a healthcare
intervention on a person, for conducting some
form of research on a person, or for disclosing a
person's information.
 Informed consent is the process in which a health
care provider educates a patient about the risks,
benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or
intervention.

6.  A health care provider may ask a patient to
consent to receive therapy before providing it.
 Informed consent is one of the founding
principles of research ethics.
 Informed consent is taken before surgery.
 Before participating in research
 It can be communicated verbally or non verbally
by electronic or written form.

7. IMPORTANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY
 For legal purpose
 It is also ethical principle
 Promotes confidence
 Prevents misuse of confidential information
 It protects reputation
 It prevents from chaos and conflicts
 Maintains respect and dignity

8. IMPORTANCE OF CONSENT
 Legal document
 It creates a trust between patient –nurse
 It is an ethical principle
 It promotes mutual trust b/w nurse-patient
 Essential element of autonomy
 Ensures good understanding
 It is client centered

9. LIST ETHICAL AND LEGAL ELEMENTS OF
INFORMED CONSENT
03 PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
(i) PRESENTATION OF INFORMATION
(ii) COMPETENCE (patient’s capacity to
comprehend)
(iii) AUTONOMY: (patient’s voluntary
willingness to undergo or refuse treatment)

10. ELEMENTS OF INFORMED CONSENT
 Nature of procedure ( purpose of
research/procedure and duration)
 The risks /benefits of procedure
 Reasonable alternatives
 Risks and benefits of alternatives
 Assessment of patient understanding

11. DISCUSS PROCESS OF INFORMED CONSENT
 DISCUSSION ( Discussion b/w Nurse –client)
 REVIEW ( Review of information by nurse )
 CONCERN ( All concerns should be addressed )
 TIME : ( Allow adequate time)
 SIGNATURES ( Obtain signature)

12. DISCUSS NURSE'S ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
IN CONSENT PROCESS
 Physicians are responsible for informing patients
of the : (a )Risks, (b) Benefits, (c) Alternatives of
a proposed treatment or surgery.
 Therefore, the informed consent process is the
(a) legal, (b) Ethical, and (c) Moral
responsibility of the physician.
 Hospital nurses also have an entrusted interest in
fully understanding the legal guidelines and
ethical considerations of the informed consent
process.

13.  With this understanding, educated nurses possess
a unique opportunity to facilitate patient
autonomy, especially in the presence of special
circumstances, such as
 (a) patients who refuse surgery,
 (b) patients with limited mental capacity
 (c) patients with surrogate decision makers

14. THANK YOU