INFORMED CONSENT;

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge andpractice of informed consent among dental practitioners in Hyderabad city, Pakistan. StudyDesign: Descriptive cross sectional survey. Setting: Liaquat University of Medical and HealthSciences, Isra University and Dental practitioners working at private Dental clinics in Hyderabadcity. Period: This study was conducted over period of six months from November 2015 toApril 2016. Material and Method: This study used self-administered structured questionnaire,consist of ten questions to assess the knowledge and practice of dental practitioners towardsinformed consent. Data was collected by visiting offices of the study participants at their workplace or through email and courier with prepaid envelope where needed. The participants weresent two reminders at the interval of fifteen days to return the filled survey form. The responseswere represented in form of percentages. The t-test was used to determine the associationbetween the knowledge and qualification, clinical experience, and age. A significance level ofp<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: Our response rate was 86% (103).Majority of the dentist merely knows the meaning of informed consent and overall had poorknowledge (mean score 7.84 + 2.44). The analysis showed that years of clinical practice andqualification was statistically significant with mean knowledge score (p < 0.01). The verbal formof consent was most preferred method of obtaining informed consent that accounted for 82%of study participants. 89% of dentist obtained informed consent from parents when treatingtheir children. Conclusions: From this study, it can be concluded that vast majority of dentistare unaware of informed consent process and their basic requirement. Although majority ofdentist believe that informed consent play an important role in routine dental practice yet manyof them did not use written form of informed consent. Our results would help the educatorsand policy makers to develop educational instruction on bioethics with special emphasis oninformed consent.