Informed consent and the preregistration house officer

A survey of preregistration house officers demonstrated that less than a th ird had never felt compelled to obtain consent from patients for procedures they themselves did not understand. This had occurred frequently for over a fifth of respondents. Learning how to obtain informed consent is an impor tant part of the education and training of a doctor. The wrong lessons will be learned if they feel compelled to do this when ill-equipped with releva nt information about risks and alternatives.