The Four Elements Of Informed Consent In Occupational Therapy

Occupational therapists (OTs) must take into consideration the four elements of informed consent when deciding whether a client can comprehend and provide informed consent for consent to treat, as required by HIPAA law (Slater, 2016). The four elements of informed consent include: providing the client with all the information on his or her condition and how a therapy treatment may look; assessing how well the client understands or will understand the information provided; assessing the client’s, or legal guardian’s, capability to make decisions on his or her care; and knowing the client will not be swayed when deciding on plan of care. With informed consent, the OT discloses every detail on the client’s therapy treatment to the client, so the

client can give consent to treat. OTs need to be respectful of clients’ decisions on whether they or their caregivers provide consent after being informed on the potential therapy.
In the case of Mrs. Jones, who demonstrated signs of confusion after a hip replacement procedure, Mrs. Jones may not be able to agree to consent to treat in a clear conscious as the confusion and agitation behaviors may impair how well Mrs. Jones understands the informed consent. However, to test if Mrs. Jones understands the therapy information being provided, an OT can ask her questions to test how oriented and alert she is before addressing possible adaptions with lower extremity dressing. Additionally, OTs can try to inform Mrs. Jones of therapy in the morning when she may not be as confused as in the late afternoon. If the OT notices that Mrs. Jones cannot make a decision due to her confusion and agitation behaviors, the OT can talk with Mrs. Jones’ daughter and try to provide her with education on Sundowners syndrome, the condition Mrs. Jones may have, to help the daughter understand the impact OTs may have on Mrs. Jones’ treatment. Because of autonomy, OTs should fully disclose everything they can do for her, but respectfully allow her and, or the daughter, to make the final decision on if the client receives therapy services and, if so, what will be addressed in the therapy session.