Gaining Consent In Nursing

By gaining consent Jean's autonomy will be respected and maintained. It is important that all nurses and other health care professions uphold the professional standard when providing direct care to individual, community and groups. Gallagher and Hodge (2012) states reinforce a person's right to exercise choice in relation to personal and bodily integrity and to have that choice respected. Before administrating the medication to Jean the nurse and student nurse made sure that she was given a choice by obtaining consent from Jean first. According to the NMC Code (2015) make sure that you get properly informed consent and document it before carrying out any action.

On the other hand, if consent was not implied within the episode of care then

both the student nurse and nurse acted unprofessionally. The Royal College of Nursing (2011) states obtaining informed consent helps to ensure that people are not deceived or coerced into participating in research. When potential participants may lack the capacity to understand information or make a decision, great care should be taken in obtaining meaningful informed consent. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) (2015) states make sure that you get properly informed consent and document it before carrying out any action. The registered nurse and student in this episode of care are covered by the NMC therefore they are responsible for providing collaborative care based on the standard set out by their governing body. 'A health care professional must not gain consent on behalf of another person. Consent is an ongoing process rather than a one off event, and it should be sought before the procedure starts' (Gallagher and Hodge, 2012). The student nurse obtained the guidelines by asking for consent first but was unable to gain consent because of lack of capacity. The student nurse knew that 'if consent has been obtained from the patient then the healthcare professional does have protection to avoid any legal penalty' (Dimond, 2008).
The Nurse and doctor was worried about Jean's safety, if she did not take the diazepam she will become more agitated and aggressive and this can lead to a risk of her falling due to mobility.

Taking this into consideration the nurse began to carry out a risk assessment and care plan to address the issues recognised. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) (2015) health and social care staff should identify the specific needs of people with dementia and their carers arising from ill health, physical disability, sensory impairment, communication difficulties, problems with nutrition, poor oral health and learning disabilities. Care plans should record and address these

needs.
Moreover, Royal College of Nursing (RCN) (2011) implies that when potential participants may lack the capacity to understand information or make a decision, great care should be taken in obtaining meaningful informed consent.

According to the NICE (2015) health and social care professionals should always seek valid consent from people with dementia. This should entail informing the person of options, and checking that he or she understands, that there is no coercion and that he or she continues to consent over time. If the person lacks the capacity to make a decision, the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 must be followed. The nurse assessed the patient capacity and ensured that the decision made was in the best interest of the patient. The doctor uses specialist knowledge and experience and clinical judgement, and the patient’s views and understanding of their condition, to identify which investigations or treatments are likely to result in overall benefit for the patient (GMC, 2008). They took into consideration how the decision made will benefit Jean. After carrying out a full assessment, it was clear that Jean lack capacity and was therefore place under the mental capacity act

2005.
Having reasonable grounds the nurse and doctor demonstrated a high level of professionalism, ability to work with together, integrity and caring, with the patient and acted in the best interest of their patient. The GMC (2008) express you must work in partnership with your patients. You should discuss with them their condition and treatment options in a way they can understand, and respect their right to make decisions about their care. You should see getting their consent as an important part of the process of discussion and decision-making, rather than as something that happens in isolation. They acknowledge that there was an issue regarding the patient ability to give consent. The mental capacity act (2005) provides the worker with protection when working with people lacking capacity provided decision making processes are fully recorded and decisions justified. The MCA allowed the MDT to achieve their goal to ensuring that Jean medications were administrated without obligate her autonomy. During this process the nurse and doctor were mindful that Jean's wishes were considered and family view and advocacy occurs in addition to the outcome being as beneficial and as least restrictive for the patient as possible.