AGA 4/10/24: New NHS Guidance on Informed Consent consent impacts GIs
My take: This guidance likely was derived from patients having sensitive exams without permission while under anesthesia. While this guidance is directed at hospital settings and hospital-based outpatient clinics where written consent is now needed, practitioners in the outpatient setting likely will need to better document permission prior to rectal examination and assure appropriate use of chaperones.
Resources:
- CMS Revisions and clarifications to Hospital Interpretive Guidelines for Informed Consent Based on increasing concerns about the absence of informed patient consent prior to allowing practitioners or supervised medical, advanced practice provider, or other applicable students to perform training- and education-related examinations outside the medically necessary procedure (such as breast, pelvic, prostate, and rectal examinations), particularly on anesthetized patients, we are reinforcing hospitals’ informed consent obligations.
- HHS letter to the nation’s teaching hospitals and medical schools
- HHS informed consent FAQs
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