Knowledge and Practices Regarding Informed Consent among Dental Practitioners

Abstract

To assess the knowledge and practices of dental practitioners regarding informed consent. METHODOLOGY: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 150 dentists at the College of Dentistry, Sharif Medical and Dental College, Lahore from June 2019 to June 2020. A pre-validated questionnaire was used. Mann Whitney U test was performed to find the statistical difference in the knowledge and practice scores across the gender and place of practice of dentists and the Kruskal Wallis test for scores across the years of clinical experience and qualification of dentists. RESULTS: The mean practice score was significantly different across levels of qualification (p=0.032) but not across years of practice (0.366). There was no significant difference in the mean knowledge score across years of practice (p=0.744) and levels of qualification (p=0.366). The highest mean score among knowledge questions was seen for the questions which inquired if informed consent should be taken before treatment. The highest mean score among practice questions was seen for the question which inquired if dentists obtained informed consent from parents before treating children. CONCLUSION: The mean knowledge score for females was higher in comparison to males and was the highest in dentists with an experience of greater than 10 years. Most dentists were aware of the concepts, types and processes of informed consent and the importance of taking the patient`s consent before treatment. Taking informed consent from patients before treatment, keeping it as part of their record and taking parents’ consent before treating children were practiced.