How Important is Medical Ethics? Descriptive Cross-Sectional Survey among Medical Students of Karachi
Zaeema Ahmer 1 * , Rameen Fatima 2, Roheen Sohaira 3, Maham Fatima 2
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1 APPNA Institute of Public Health, Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, PAKISTAN2 Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, PAKISTAN3 Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi, PAKISTAN* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Introduction: Healthcare ethics is of prime importance and medical students should learn to incorporate it in their everyday practices. Our study aimed to assess and compare the knowledge of medical ethics among students enrolled in a government and a private medical college of Karachi, Pakistan.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from November-December 2019 among 380 medical students who were recruited via convenience sampling after getting their informed consent. A pre-tested, self-administered structured questionnaire was used to assess knowledge. Data was analyzed by Statistical Package of Social Sciences version 22.
Results: Majority, 323 (85%) regarded medical ethics as important while 138 (36.3%) had acquired their knowledge from different workshops. Almost half, 187 (49.2%) had knowledge regarding Hippocratic Oath. When asked regarding ethical scenarios, 69 (18.2%) students in government medical college were of the opinion that a doctor can refuse to perform abortion even if law allows it as compared to 57 (15.0%) in private medical college (p=0.019). Moreover, 80 (21.1%) students in government medical college strongly disagreed that a patient who wishes to die should be assisted in doing so, as compared to 45 (11.8%) in private medical college (p< 0.001).
Conclusion: Students had knowledge and were aware of the importance of ethics in their profession. The ones belonging to government medical college held stronger views regarding ethical scenarios as compared to the ones in private medical college.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EUR J ENV PUBLIC HLT, 2021, Volume 5, Issue 2, Article No: em0083

https://doi.org/10.21601/ejeph/11058

Publication date: 13 Jul 2021

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Article Downloads: 3756

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