Abstract
Introduction: A dentist is a healthcare professional providing care for the patient, as a physician. There has been increase in the number of patients challenging the dentist’s authority over treatment planning and consent issues in the past few years. Thus, while providing the oral healthcare services a dentist has to follow certain set of standards in almost all the activities related to the management of patient. Failure to exercise such practice could invite litigation in the name of malpractice. Therefore, this study was performed to assess the level of knowledge and understanding relevant to CPA and Medico legal aspects that can affect Dentists. Materials and Methods: A self-structured validated questionnaire comprising of 15 questions related to medicolegal aspect and CPA was designed. A total of 150 dental professionals were surveyed. ; 50 were undergraduates, 50 were postgraduates and 50 were dental faculty. Chi-square test was used to compare the awareness of medico-legal issues among dentists. Result: The CPA awareness scores were significantly higher among faculty when compared with those of undergraduates and postgraduates. About 44.0% of BDS students, 84.0% of MDS students and 94.0% of the dental faculty are aware about CPA. Nearly 20.0% of the BDS students, 42.0% of the MDS students and 52.0% of the dental faculty know the legal procedures to tackle COPRA/CPA. Conclusion: Considering the present situation, a better understanding of CPA is essential for dentists in India to be on the safer side and an educational program would be useful to increase the understanding and confidence of dentists in any medical legal jurisprudence to avoid any lawsuit. Keywords: Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS), Consumer Protection Act (CPA), Dental Council of India (DCI), Master of Dental Surgery (MDS), postgraduate (PG) students.
Highlights
A dentist is a healthcare professional providing care for the patient, as a physician
About 84.0% of the Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students, 88.0% of Master of Dental Surgery (MDS) students and 100.0% of the dental faculty collect the past history of any medical condition/drug allergy and reactions of your patients before starting the treatment. 64.0% of the BDS students, 87.8% of the MDS students and 91.8% dental faculty obtain in the local language
Awareness regarding Consumer Protection Act (CPA) Table 2 shows that nearly 88.0% of BDS students, 98.0% of MDS students and 100.0% of the dental faculty know that a hospital is legally bound to maintain records
Summary
A dentist is a healthcare professional providing care for the patient, as a physician. It is essential that dentists should have an adequate knowledge of the law for the implications on their profession.[2] while providing the oral healthcare services a dentist must be aware about some set of standards in maintaining records of almost all the activities related to the management of patient. Failure to exercise such practice could invite litigation in the name of malpractice. The factors that should be considered with utmost care while managing a patient are consent, a detailed case history recording, well-understood drug prescription policy and knowledge of emergency situation handling.[3]
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