The importance of patient consent

I used to work in the surgical recovery unit at a major hospital in my community. While there, I was trained about the importance of patient consent. Hospitals can be scary places. Patients are surrounded by strangers and the outcomes of surgery are never guaranteed. I was taught that talking a patient through what is happening is an important part of compassionate care.

In the surgical recovery unit where I worked, nursing assistants like me would talk to our patients – even if they still appeared to be unconscious from the anesthesia. Whether it was changing a patient into a fresh gown or doing a blood sugar check, we talked the patient through every step. I wish I had been given this level of compassionate care when I was admitted to the emergency room one autumn afternoon in 2013.

Instead, treatment was forced on me without my knowledge or consent even though I was fully lucid and awake. For years, I wondered why I was not worthy of that kind of care. It took me a long time in therapy, support groups, and personal reflection to understand that the way I was treated was never a mark or measure of my own character. Rather, it says so much more about the people who treated me with cruelty and cold indifference.

Posted by Jacqueline on December 21, 2022

https://justonetake.wordpress.com/2022/12/21/the-importance-of-patient-consent/