Electronic Informed Consent and COVID-19 Research

Informed consent – the formal process of providing information and obtaining permission from a person who signs up to participate in a research study – is a key step in the research process. An article in Medical Ethics Advisor discusses how Weill Cornell Medical College reviewed a group of studies to see how various health systems used the newer (faster) method of electronic consent (e-consent) instead.

The issue is timely because of the pressing need for COVID-19 research, said the article.

“The lack of consensus on how to switch to e-consent makes it more difficult to realize its potential benefits. Not everyone has the time or patience to explain the same thing at varying educational levels, in different languages, and confirm comprehension. ‘While humans still outperform computers in many ways, we are not great at consistency, and we all have biases,’ says [Curtis L.] Cole [Weill’s chief information officer], adding the ethical obligation is to maximize the benefits of e-consent while minimizing its harms.”

Quoted in the article, Julie Aultman, Ph.D., director of the medical ethics and humanities program and chair of the Institutional Review Board at Northeast Ohio Medical University, noted that a subject has the right to withdraw from a study at any time, regardless of the permission they have given previously. 

“The process of consent is an important reminder of such rights,” said Dr. Aultman.

Read the article in Medical Ethics Advisor.