Knowledge, attitudes and practices of healthcare personnel towards Care-Ethics
Hariharan, Seetharaman Jonnalagadda, Ramesh Gora, Jagathi
Hariharan, Seetharaman
Jonnalagadda, Ramesh
Gora, Jagathi
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health care
care ethics
care ethics
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Bioethics
Health ethics
Health ethics
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Abstract
The aim of the study was to assess the attitudes of healthcare personnel in Barbados towards care-ethics which may reflect the influence of the socio-cultural background. A self-administered structured questionnaire was devised, tested and distributed to all levels of staff at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, a tertiary care teaching hospital in Barbados. The questionnaire comprised of detailed questions regarding day-to-day aspects of ethical issues in medical practice. The respondents included medical, paramedical and healthcare administrative personnel. The response rate was 73% of 500 distributed questionnaires. There were varying opinions in many issues of care-ethics. 55% of the respondents agreed for patient autonomy, one-quarter agreed to the paternalistic view and one-third felt that the condition of a patient should be informed to relatives. There were statistically significant differences when the views expressed by physicians and nurses were compared with those expressed by the paramedical and other healthcare personnel. The responses show that ethical viewpoints of healthcare workers vary widely which could have been probably influenced by the cross-cultural perspectives. Bioethical codes should ideally be formulated taking these perspectives into account.
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2007
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With permission of the license/copyright holder