Informed Consent in Paediatric Telemedicine: Challenge or Opportunity? A Scoping Review

Abstract

The fundamental importance of informed consent as a prerequisite for the lawfulness of the medical act is an indisputable cornerstone of clinical practice. However, the provision of effective information and the collection of informed consent presents important critical issues in the underage patient, even considering that in general terms he or she does not have the power to directly express consent, which must be provided by parents or legal guardians. These critical issues are amplified in the context of telemedicine. The present study aims, through a scoping review of the literature of the past 10 years, to outline the operational practices adopted in the collection of informed consent from children in the context of telemedicine and to identify solutions devised to address the critical issues related to the provision of adequate information to the child in this particular care setting. The results of the research show that the activity of delivering adequate information to the child, itself complex, is made even more complex by the particular setting of telemedicine, which, however, could be effectively exploited to facilitate communication with the child patient.