Medical Ethics amongst Medical Intern students : a study from the Eastern part of India

Abstract

Knowledge, attitudes and practices of medical ethics among 297 undergraduate medical interns of four medical colleges from eastern part of India were assessed using a self administered structured questionnaire. Questions on source of medical ethics, codes and guidelines were set to assess the knowledge of medical ethics while importance of ethics, autonomy, justice and confidentiality were used as questions to assess attitudes towards medical ethics. Practices of medical ethics, however, were assessed by questions on frequency of ethical dilemma, research ethics etc. Out of 297, 259 interns (87.2%) responded. 106 interns (40.9%) said that sources of knowing medical ethics are lectures and/or seminars. Others told either through own reading (20.6%), training (19.8%) or during doing work (18.7%). In code & guidelines, all interns knew Hippocratic Oath but 52.3% interns were aware of Indian Council of Medical Research's code of ethics. 87.6% interns admitted importance of ethics in their work but 22.5% interns believed that consent is required only during operation and not at the time of taking blood. In practice of ethics 52.5% interns told that ethical dilemma comes once in a month. 12.4% interns, however, told that they faced ethical dilemma in their daily work. Regarding application of consent form in human research, 58.1% interns knew about informed consent. 100% interns had no clear cut idea about ethical issue on end-of-life. Implementation of teaching on medical ethics seems to be important in undergraduate medical curriculum in this study zone.