Percutaneous coronary intervention: obtaining consent and preparing patients for follow-on procedures

Percutaneous coronary intervention: obtaining consent and preparing patients for follow-on proceduresIn Seeking patients' consent: the ethical considerations, the General Medical Council (GMC) has issued clear guidance on the issue of obtaining consent. 1 In the past it has often been the case that junior medical staV with little or no experience of cardiac catheterisation have obtained consent for both diagnostic coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).This is no longer acceptable.The GMC guidelines do allow delegation of the task of obtaining consent to a "suitably trained and qualified person who has suYcient knowledge of the proposed investigation or treatment, and understands the risks involved".However, periprocedural sedation and anxiety preclude obtaining valid consent for a follow-on PCI immediately after the angiogram. 2Therefore, follow-on PCI requires that consent be obtained by either a consultant interventional cardiologist or a suitably experienced trainee (usually a specialist registrar) before the diagnostic procedure is performed.