Attitudes of mental health practitioners to the Hippocratic Oath: Tradition and modernity in psychiatry

Abstract

Aims and method: To establish whether psychiatrists believe that medicine should be practised according to the principles of the Hippocratic Oath, an anonymised postal questionnaire survey was conducted of all medical staff at the Caludon Centre, an 80-bed in-patient mental health unit in Coventry. Results: Thirty-three respondents (82.5%) believed that medicine should be practised according to the Oath. Support for the 15 separate statements derived from the Oath varied considerably. Clinical implications: The principles of the Oath remain an important guide to the ethical basis of medical practice for most medical staff surveyed.