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Document Type

Original Article

Abstract

Medical malpractice is commonly seen in public as well as private hospitals of Pakistan. Most institutions in Pakistan do not emphasize the practice of medical ethics.

To determine the awareness of medical ethics among house officers

A cross sectional study was conducted on house officers posted at Medicine, Surgery, and Gynecology and Obstetrics Ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from December 2020 till June 2021. All recent graduates between the ages of 18 and 30, who worked as a full-time house-officer were eligible to partake in the study. All doctors who were not designated as house officers and other healthcare professionals including nurses were excluded from the study. A structured questionnaire was used to examine the participants' knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical ethics.

A total of 227 house officers participated in this study. Out of these, majority considered the knowledge of medical ethics very important during their work however, most participants (59%) had not read the PMDC code of medical ethics. Surprisingly three house officers assumed it was not important at all. Upon further interrogation 16 percent said that they find the task of obtaining informed consent to be very challenging. Conclusion: A lack of knowledge of medical ethics amongst house officers was seen. This is due to the lack of emphasis on teaching medical ethics in the medical curriculum. To ensure quality health care to patients, medical ethics teachings should be made mandatory in the medical curriculum.

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