Perception of Ethics and Professionalism Teaching among Dental Professionals at a Teaching Hospital in Karachi

Abstract

Background: Health care professionals come across many ethically difficult situations in their clinical practices and community; the students should be equipped with skills to resolve ethical and professional issues. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Baqai dental college, Karachi. All the faculty members and house officers of the dental teaching hospital were included in the study. The tool used for the data collection was a structured questionnaire, for drawing views of the participants on professionalism and ethics teaching. The survey instrument evaluated two domains; attitudes 25 items, and goals 19 items on ethics and professionalism education. Data were recorded and analyzed in SPSS 24. To compare the responses of both the groups, that is, the house officers and the faculty member’s independent t-test was applied to compare the mean scores. A p-value of ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The questionnaire was circulated to a total of 157 participants (75 faculty members and 82 house officers) with a 100% response rate. The faculty members and the house officers showed a positive attitude regarding ethics, professionalism, and teachings. The participants agreed with the goals that can be achieved by incorporating professionalism and medical ethics in education. The participant strongly affirmed the learning and teaching of professionalism (4.06 ± 0.989). Conclusion: The realization of the need to teach ethics and professionalism by dental professionals is the first step to bringing change in their daily clinical practice and interpersonal qualities. Keywords: Ethics, Professionalism, “Education, Medical”, “Personality development”, “Social Desirability”.