Qualitative evaluation of a deferred consent process in paediatric emergency research: A PREDICT study

Abstract

Background A challenge of conducting research in critically ill children is that the therapeutic window for the intervention may be too short to seek informed consent prior to enrolment. In specific circumstances, most international ethical guidelines allow for children to be enrolled in research with informed consent obtained later, termed deferred consent (DC) or retrospective consent. There is a paucity of data on the attitudes of parents to this method of enrolment in paediatric emergency research. Objectives To explore the attitudes of parents to the concept of DC and to expand the knowledge of the limitations to informed consent and DC in these situations. Method Children presenting wi..