Department of Public Health and Nutrition, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Department of Public Health and Nutrition, The University of Haripur, Haripur, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
BMJ Open. 2024 Aug 19;14(8):e083521. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083521.
To assess the level of bioethics awareness among healthcare professionals in Pakistan, focusing on the associations with sociodemographic characteristics, training and teaching of ethics, medical ethics practice and specific ethical issues.
Cross-sectional study.
Public and private hospitals in Haripur, Pakistan.
A total of 647 healthcare professionals participated in this study.
This study was conducted between March and May 2023, following Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology checklist criterion, involving healthcare professionals with at least 6 months of experience in patient care practice. Providers under close supervision are advised not to respond to the bioethics knowledge, attitudes and practices survey form due to potential ethical dilemmas.
Both physicians and non-physicians need to know more about bioethics. There was a significant difference (p<0.05) in ethical training and teaching based on job categories/designations, with ethical views differing greatly by job designation. Specific ethical issues, such as accepting gifts from patients and pharmaceutical companies, referral fees, advising specific products, disclosure of medical errors, patient confidentiality, not informing patients fully about treatment and performing tasks for financial gain, showed significant associations (p<0.05) with healthcare professional's designation. Ethical awareness scores also showed significant differences (p<0.05) based on age, ethnicity, place of posting, professional experience and the organisation's ethical guidelines.
This study highlighted a notable gap in the understanding of certain ethical concerns among healthcare professionals, with nurses showing relatively lower awareness of healthcare practice compared with other professionals. Addressing these issues through targeted training and robust ethical guidelines is critical to improving patient care in Pakistan's healthcare system.
评估巴基斯坦医疗保健专业人员的生物伦理学意识水平，重点关注与社会人口统计学特征、伦理培训与教学、医学伦理实践以及特定伦理问题的关联。
横断面研究。
巴基斯坦哈里普尔的公立和私立医院。
共有 647 名医疗保健专业人员参与了这项研究。
本研究于 2023 年 3 月至 5 月期间进行，遵循《加强观察性研究的报告流行病学清单标准》，涉及至少有 6 个月患者护理实践经验的医疗保健专业人员。由于潜在的伦理困境，建议处于密切监督下的医务人员不要对生物伦理学知识、态度和实践调查表格做出回应。
医生和非医生都需要更多地了解生物伦理学。根据职业类别/职称，伦理培训和教学存在显著差异（p<0.05），并且职业职称的伦理观点差异很大。特定的伦理问题，如接受患者和制药公司的礼物、转诊费、建议特定产品、披露医疗失误、患者保密、不完全告知患者治疗情况以及为经济利益执行任务，与医疗保健专业人员的职称显著相关（p<0.05）。伦理意识评分也根据年龄、族裔、职位、专业经验和组织的伦理准则显示出显著差异（p<0.05）。
本研究突出了医疗保健专业人员对某些伦理问题理解上的明显差距，与其他专业人员相比，护士对医疗保健实践的认识相对较低。通过有针对性的培训和强有力的伦理准则来解决这些问题，对于改善巴基斯坦医疗保健系统中的患者护理至关重要。
