Knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical ethics among health practitioners in Taif government, KSA.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Medical ethics practice and the attitude and knowledge toward it was our concern and aim to investigate. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1943 healthcare practitioners from three tertiary care hospitals. A questionnaire requesting demographic data and items related to the level of knowledge and awareness beside the real-life practice of medical ethics among healthcare providers was used. A score was given for each response and a total score was calculated. RESULTS: Of the participants, 86.9% had studied medical ethics, 70.3% thought patients should know about their rights, 87.4% supported that the patient have the right to know and be informed if any malpractice happened, 61.8% never engaged in healthcare-related act on a patient without informed consent, 73% ensured that no one was present other than medical team during assessments or procedures, and 86.6% tried to give only what was necessary to the patient regarding their situation. Nursing specialists/technicians, with of 20-<30 years of practice and participants who had previous training in bioethics had significantly higher mean attitude scores than others. Females, laboratory specialists/technicians, and those who reported previous study of medical ethics had a significantly higher practice scores. A cogent positive correlation was found between the practice and attitude scores. CONCLUSION: Interduce medical ethics and insist on its importance in medical institutions will positively affect practitioners' knowledge, attitude, and practice.