Consent in covid: A researcher’s dilemma

An informed consent is a vital component of health care and forms an important component of any research study. Informed consent is the process where a health care provider educates a patient about the risks, benefits, and alternatives of a given procedure or intervention. A proper consent is imperative to ensure safety of the patients. However, obtaining a consent in the hospital settings has become a matter of concern in the times of this coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic. This brief review describes the additional complexities added to the consent for research and the various modifications needed in view of this pandemic. The current consent proformas need to be modified and individualised to the patient ensuring patient safety during research in the ongoing pandemic. We need to become more familiar with the technology and electronic tools as the acceptable alternative tools of communication in the current scenario. There is a need to incorporate a separate covid consent with due consideration to deferred consent, pre-emptive consent or waiver of a consent.