Nursing Roles in the Quality of Information in Informed Consent Forms of a Spanish County Hospital

Abstract

(1) Background: Because of their direct and continuous contact with the patient, nurses play a relevant role in ensuring that informed consent forms are complete and easy to read and comprehend. The objective of this study was to analyze the legibility and formal quality of informed consent forms for non-surgical procedures in a county hospital. (2) Methods: The readability of these forms was analyzed using the INFLESZ scale and the information they provided according to the formal quality criteria established for these forms. (3) Results: Readability was difficult in 78.08% of the forms analyzed. No form fulfilled all the criteria, the most non-compliant being the non-appearance of the verification of delivery of a copy to the patient (100%), the contraindications (94.59%), and the alternatives (83.78%) of the procedure. Statistically significant differences were observed between disciplines with respect to the INFLESZ readability score and the formal quality score, but no statistically significant correlation was found between the two scores. (4) Conclusions: The informed consent forms for non-surgical procedures analyzed presented mostly difficult readability and poor formal quality, making it difficult for patients to have understandable and complete information. Nursing professionals should be actively involved in their improvement to facilitate patient decision making.

Keywords

• informed consent forms
• readability
• comprehension
• formal quality
• nursing professionals