Awareness about the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Informed Consent in Dental Professionals, Interns and Post Graduate Students in a Dental Institute - A Questionnaire Based Study

Context: Dentistry is a noble profession wherein both, knowledge and skill, are used for the service of the society. There is a need for knowledge about ethics which is obligatory to the practice of medicine in order to avoid attracting medicolegal issues. This will enhance safe health care delivery in an unbiased and standard way. Aim: To evaluate the amount of awareness regarding the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding informed consent in dental professionals, interns and post graduate (PG) students Settings and design: A cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst interns, post-graduate students and teaching staff of Sinhgad Dental College& Hospital, Pune. Materials and methods: Census sampling was done.196 participants were evaluated with a structured, closed-ended, self-administered questionnaire. Statistical analysis: SPSS software (version 21) was used for data analysis. One-sample Chi-Square test and Binomial tests were applied (P greater than 0.05. ) MS Excel was used to calculate percentages for the obtained responses. Results and conclusion: 85 % MDS staff, 60 % BDS staff, 60.15 % PG students and 51.97 % interns were aware about informed consent There is a need to increase the level of awareness regarding informed consent in order to avoid litigations