title: Knowledge, awareness and practice of ethics among doctors in tertiary care hospital.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  With the advancement of healthcare and medical research, doctors need to be aware of the basic ethical principles. This cross-sectional study is an attempt to assess the knowledge, awareness, and practice of health-care ethics among health-care professionals.
  
  
  METHODS
  After taking written informed consent, a standard questionnaire was administered to 117 doctors. No personal information was recorded on the questionnaire so as to ensure the confidentiality and anonymity of participants. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 21 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Statistically significant difference observed between the opinions of consultant and senior resident (SRs) on issues like, adherence to confidentiality; paternalistic attitude of doctors (doctors should do their best for the patient irrespective of patient's opinion); doctor's decision should be final in case of disagreement and interest in learning ethics (P< 0.05). However, no difference reported among them with respect to patient wishes, informing patient regarding wrongdoing, informing close relatives, seeking consent for children and patients' consent for procedures. Furthermore, no significant difference observed between the two with respect to the practice of health-care ethics. Surprisingly, the response of clinical and nonclinical faculty did not differ as far as awareness and practice of ethics were concerned.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The significant difference is observed in the knowledge, awareness, and practice of ethics among consultants and SRs. Conferences, symposium, and workshops, on health-care ethics, may act as a means of sensitizing doctors and thus will help to bridge this gap and protect the well-being and confidentiality of the patients. Such an effort may bring about harmonious change in the doctor-patient relationship.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Surjit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Pramod Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, AIIMS, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Bharti
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bhandari
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, AIIMS, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.
authors.forename: Rimplejeet
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kaur
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003219:Confidentiality; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D010820:Physicians / Q000941:ethics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: An awareness among healthcare providers of the ethics in medical care is lacking. Conferences, symposium and workshops etc. on healthcare ethics may add knowledge, awareness and practice of ethics among resident doctors at par with consultants. These efforts may ensure the protection of well-being and confidentiality of patients.; Helsinki; ICH-GCP; medical ethics