Consent, Benefit, and Risk in Anaesthetic Practice

Jonathan Hardman is a clinical academic in anaesthesia at the University of Nottingham. He trained in Nottingham and took up his first clinical academic post there in 1996. His interests include pathophysiological modelling and perioperative risk and outcome. He is a member of the editorial boards of two journals, the Honorary Secretary of the Anaesthetic Research Society and the holder of the Royal College of Anaesthetists' Macintosh Professorship.
Iain Moppett is a clinical academic in anaesthesia at the University of Nottingham. He trained in Cambridge and Nottingham and took up his first clinical academic post there in 2000. His interests include computational modelling, perioperative risk prediction and consent. He is a member of the editorial board of EIDO Healthcare, a medical information and consent company and was on the AAGBI working party on consent.

Alan Aitkenhead became Professor of Anaesthesia in Nottingham in January 1989. His principal research interests relate to the influence of anaesthetic and analgesic drugs on the outcome of surgery of the colon, memory and awareness during general anaesthesia, and safety of anaesthesia. He is author and co-editor of a number of books, including Textbook of Anaesthesia, now in its fifth edition. He is currently Head of the School of Medical and Surgical Sciences at the University of Nottingham
and Chair of the Nottingham and East Midlands School of Anaesthesia. He is a member of the Council of the Medical Defence Union. Internationally, he was a founder member of the European Society of Anaesthesiologists and was its President from 1996 to 1999, and he is Chairman of the Editorial Board of
the European Journal of Anaesthesiology.

Consent is increasingly important for anaesthetists. Without readily accessible information regarding the risks and benefits associated with anaesthesia, it is not possible to provide patients and relatives with sufficient information to make informed choices about their care. This book provides a comprehensive guide to these complex issues.

Highly commended in the anaesthesia category of the British Medical Association Book Awards 2010

SECTION 1: CONSENT; 1. Generic aspects of consent; 2. Conveying risks and benefits; SECTION 2: CLINICAL CONTEXTS FOR CONSENT; 3. Obstetrics; 4. Emergency surgery; 5. Critical care; 6. High risk patients; 7. Children; 8. Incapacity - learning impaired, dementia, mental and emotional disturbance; 9. Research, audit and trainees; SECTION 3: RISKS & BENEFITS; 10. Mortality associated with anaesthesia; 11. Awareness during anaesthesia; 12. Respiratory risk; 13. Cardiovascular risk; 14. Haematological risk; 15. Nervous system and regional anaesthesia; 16. Psychiatric risk; 17. Endocrine and renal risk; 18. Injury during anaesthesia; 19. Temperature; 20. Equipment; 21. Drug reactions and drug errors; SECTION 4: PERSONAL PERSPECTIVES; 22. The legal framework for consent; 23. The patient's perspective