Barriers to informed consent.

OBJECTIVES: To provide oncology nurses with a review of barriers that may limit the ability of adults to provide informed consent. DATA SOURCES: Published articles, research studies, and review articles pertaining to informed consent and clinical research. CONCLUSIONS: Patient-centered barriers to informed consent (such as age, education, and illness) and process-centered barriers (such as content and readability of the consent form, timing of discussion, and amount of time allotted to the process) can affect an individual's ability to provide substantial informed consent. IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE: Oncology nurses must be aware and knowledgeable of the various barriers to informed consent to minimize these barriers and to improve and facilitate the informed consent process.