The Importance Of Gaining Consent

Gaining consent is essential in healthcare practice because it is a legal and ethical value (Welsh Assembly Government [WAG], 2015). Obtaining consent is an ethical requirement because it enables respect for the patient’s autonomy as it includes them in part of the decision-making process (McHale, 2013a). Valid consent must be gained before any action on the capable patient regarding treatment, personal care or investigation (Tidy, 2016). The National Health Service [NHS], 2016) outlines consent as permission given by the patient to the clinician before receiving any medical investigation irrespective of the technique type. Taylor (2013), agrees and adds that consent is a patient’s right to make informed choices regarding their care and treatment.

The absence of dignity enables a person to feel devalued, uncomfortable and uncontrollable, which refers to the inability of decision making (RCN, 2008b). WAG (2003b) explains that respect is a fundamental of care and is extremely important when providing care, particularly in personal care, examination or caring for terminally ill patients. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (2014) state that human rights are based on factors such as dignity and respect. In article 8 of the Human Rights Act (1998) it stresses that respect must be given to people by maintaining dignity.
In Conclusion, based on literature within the above analysis it is evident that gaining consent from a patient before any procedure, investigation or care task is a legal, ethical requirement. Similarly, it is essential to understand the reasons of why communication is significant in nursing. Also, there are many formats of communication to use with patients, and it is vital to determine which form is correct. Dignity and respect also play a fundamental part of nursing, and the absence of this permits patients to feel devalued and

Reflection involves methods of “reflection on and in action”. Reflection is used in practice to assist with factors, such as NMC Revalidation, support and enhance safe practice, improve skills and knowledge and enable professional development. Reflection is significant in practice because nurses are accountable for their patient’s specific requirements. There are numerous skills required for reflection to work, which are known as self-awareness, description, critical analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The reflection process is carried out through many different models of reflection, for example, Gibbs (1988) Model, which is used as a guide to examine the critical incident. In healthcare, consent is a legal and ethical value and must be obtained from the competent patient before any form of procedure by forms of written, verbal or implied. The patient must have full capacity and be fully aware of the procedure and understand if there are any risks involved. If a procedure is given without consent, this can lead to prosecution. The Mental Capacity Act (2005) rules decisions for patients who cannot consent, and therefore the patient would nominate somebody as their “power of attorney”. There are many forms of communication of which is a transfer of information between people; a