Ethics Approval and Disclosure of Patient Information
In designing the SSC, it is important for the Supervisor to bear in mind that if there is to be a research element involving patients, ethics committee approval must be sought well before the start of the module. It is the Supervisor's responsibility to ensure that research studies have ethical approval. Where appropriate, clinical audits should be registered with the Clinical Effectiveness Coordinator in the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde Clinical Governance Support Unit. Forms for this are available on the NHS intranet. The Clinical Governance Support Unit may offer support for some audits.
GMC guidance states that if students need access to a patient’s personal information, but are not providing or supporting the patient’s care, anonymised information should be used whenever possible. When it is necessary for students to use identifiable information about a patient, or it is not practicable to anonymise information, wherever possible the patient’s consent should be sought before disclosing it. Case reports produced by students should be written in such a way that the patient should not be identifiable. Students should not use initials and the date of birth, but instead use terms such as Mr/Mrs/Ms X and the age of the patient.