Making Informed Consent an Informed Choice: Training

All too frequently, patients do not understand the risks, benefits and alternatives of their treatments even after signing a consent form. To improve the informed consent process, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) engaged The Joint Commission and Abt Associates to provide guidance through free online courses for hospital leadership and other health care professionals.

These online and enduring “start now, finish later” modules that aim to provide guidance to hospital leadership and healthcare providers to improve the Informed Consent process. Both modules include multiple work sheets and downloadable resources. Available free to our accredited organizations, both modules offer two CE Credits and include multiple work sheets and downloadable resources.

Please email to request access to our learning site. Please provide your full name, email address and the name of the course(s) you want to complete.

Training for Health Care Leaders

The Leaders Module goes through each topic that an informed consent policy should address and gives examples from a fictional hospital of what each part of the policy could look like.

  • Learn the principles of informed consent
  • Learn strategies and system changes to nurture a hospital culture that supports a high-quality policy of informed consent
  • Know how to launch an informed consent quality improvement initiative at your hospital.

Target Audience:

  • Hospital executives and department/unit leaders;
  • Hospital Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Officers
  • Risk managers

Training for Health Care Professionals

Explore communication and patient engagement strategies and tools designed to help improve the informed consent process.

Learn the principles of informed consent 

  • Understand strategies for clear communication about choices during the informed consent process
  • Learn strategies for presenting choices (e.g., showing structured decision aids, encouraging questions)
  • Know how to appropriately document and confirm informed consent, and to work as part of a team

Target Audience:

  • Physicians
  • Other health care providers involved in the informed consent process*
  • Administrative staff (e.g., registration, billing)

*LIP = Licensed Independent Practitioners; Nurses (including nurse educators) allied health professionals (e.g. medical assistants, technicians, therapists, qualified medical interpreters)

Please email with any questions or log in and IT issues.