title: Informed consent, privacy and confidentiality practised by doctors of a tertiary care hospital in a developing country.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This aim of this study was to assess the degree to which the doctors of a public sector hospital in Karachi adhere to medical ethics during their consultations.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional study was conducted in Civil Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan, during April-June 2010. 337 patients from Out Patients Departments (OPDs) and wards were recruited through consecutive sampling. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was administered to the participants and they were asked about their demographic profile, and their doctor's practices regarding obtaining informed consent, respecting privacy and confidentiality, and treatment modalities. Written informed consent was taken from all the participants. Data was analysed using SPSS version 16.0, and a p-value of < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the study population was 38.4 ± 15.0 years. There was an equal ratio of males and females. Our study showed that informed consent was obtained from 66.4% of patients. 56.9% of patients responded that they were not informed about the side effects of the prescribed medicines. 74% females were satisfied with the privacy maintained during the consultation. 64.8% were assured of the confidentiality of their information. Regarding advertisement by doctors, 46.5% of patients said it should be done.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There has been a marked improvement as compared with the previous practices of biomedical ethics by the doctors of this public sector hospital. However, awareness sessions should be conducted to update / improve the knowledge of ethics among doctors to help them translate their knowledge into practice.
authors: Professor and Chairman, Department of Family Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi 74800 PAKISTAN.
authors: Waris
authors: W
authors: Qidwai
authors: Rumina
authors: R
authors: Tabassum
authors: Fahad Hanif
authors: FH
authors: Khan
authors: Salman
authors: S
authors: Javed
authors: Syed Mustafa
authors: SM
authors: Ali
authors: Kashmira
authors: K
authors: Nanji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000941:ethics*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D006779:Hospitals, Public; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000941:ethics*; D018907:Privacy