The role of informed consent in the veterinary clinic: sharing the decision-making

Just under half of UK adults own pets, with populations of 11.1 million pet cats and 8.9 million pet dogs (PDSA 2018). With increasingly complex treatments available, their healthcare approaches a similar level to that offered to human patients. However, many decisions made for animals concern relatively mundane treatments, such as neutering. Any medical or surgical treatment performed on pets requires the consent of the animal's owner, who should be an equal partner to the veterinary professional in the consent process. It is for the owner to decide whether to agree to any proposed treatment. This project aims to publicise and develop the research in my doctoral thesis "The Role of Informed Consent in the Veterinary Clinic: a Case Study in Companion Animal Neutering." The Fellowship will enable me to share the research with several different audiences.
Primarily, I aim to publish in academic veterinary journals, reaching those who research veterinary practice, and interested veterinary practitioners. I will utilise the popular veterinary press to target all members of the veterinary team. Importantly, I will try to reach those who care for animals, seeking to enable animal owners to participate in decision-making for their pets. Informed consent involves a veterinary surgeon (or veterinary nurse) giving information about treatment options to a client (usually the owner of the animal) to enable the client to make a decision regarding treatment. Currently, the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) gives advice on consent to veterinary professionals via the Code of Professional Conduct, specifically in the Supporting Guidance on 'Communication and Consent' (RCVS 2018). I contributed early results from my research and made recommendations for change when the guidance was updated in March 2018. The final thesis contained further opportunities for revision, so I will continue to liaise with the RCVS on its consent advice. However, this only guides veterinary professionals, and ignores the other decision-maker in the veterinary consent process. Currently, there is no consent advice for animal owners.
I have outlined plans for five academic papers that will be produced during the fellowship. These will appeal to veterinary surgeons and veterinary nurses, but also to those who work in various areas of animal- and healthcare-related research. These papers will contribute to the emerging field of veterinary socio-legal studies, which combines social science-based research methods with relevant legal research. One paper will be aimed at veterinary professionals working in practice, but to further share these findings, I will develop an inexpensive on-line short course on informed consent for the Continuing Professional Development of veterinary nurses and veterinary surgeons.
When considering the best way to share this work with those involved in obtaining or giving consent on behalf of animals, my background in veterinary communication skills training plays an important role. A shared decision-making approach requires animal owners to be provided with high quality information in a usable format, therefore the project will seek to collect and provide suitably written resources for owners to consult. Having worked with simulated clients for several years, and developed teaching around the appropriate use of technical language, I am very aware that veterinary articles can be off-putting for non-specialist audiences. Therefore, in addition to research papers, I will write articles for the 'popular' veterinary and pet owner press and communicate my findings to the profession and animal owners via social media.
Finally, I plan to run an end-of-project workshop aimed at bringing together veterinary professionals and animal owners. The event will draw together the findings from all aspects of my research, including communication techniques aimed at developing shared decision-making between veterinary professionals and clients.