How to take consent in an OSCE station
To take consent in an OSCE, confirm the patient has capacity, explain the procedure in plain terms, then cover the benefits, the material risks, and the alternatives (including doing nothing), checking understanding throughout and confirming the decision is voluntary. Examiners look for material, patient-specific risks and a genuine two-way conversation, not a recited list.
Capacity & context
Confirm identity, check the patient can understand, retain, weigh and communicate the decision, and establish what they already know.
The procedure
Explain what the procedure involves in plain language, including what happens before, during and after.
Benefits & alternatives
Cover why it's being offered, the alternatives (including no treatment), and what each option means for them.
Material risks
Discuss the risks that matter to this patient (common ones and serious ones), tailored to their circumstances — the Montgomery standard.
Check & confirm
Check understanding, answer questions, confirm the decision is voluntary, and document. Offer time and written information.
Frequently asked questions
What makes consent 'valid'?
Valid consent requires capacity, sufficient information (including material risks and alternatives), and a voluntary decision free from coercion. Missing any of these is a key OSCE fail point.
What are 'material' risks?
Risks a reasonable person in the patient's position would want to know, plus any the individual patient would attach significance to — the Montgomery principle. Tailor risk disclosure to the patient, don't just list percentages.
Practise this in a real station
Rehearse these skills out loud with MedMock's AI patient and examiner in the exams this matters for: