EPISTEME OF BIOETHICS AMONG UNDERGRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE DENTAL STUDENTS OF VARIOUS DENTAL COLLEGES ACROSS TAMIL NADU, INDIA - A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
Keywords:
Bioethics, Dentistry, Awareness, Dental Practice, KnowledgeAbstract
Background: The field of dentistry is multi-dimensional in nature. Each dimension on its own are facing many ethical dilemmas in day-to-day practice. These ethical dilemmas appear based on the knowledge, attitude and practice of bioethics by the dental practitioners.
Aim: This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitude, practice and awareness level of bioethics among the undergraduate and post graduate students across Tamil Nadu.
Materials and Methods: One hundred and ninety-five individuals participated in the study. Among them 141 were undergraduate and 54 were postgraduate dental students. A set of 20 closed ended questions were given to the participants and the answer obtained were tabulated and recorded. Descriptive statistics was performed to know the gender distribution among study population and inferential statistics was performed using chi-square test to determine the association between the undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Result: Among the questions obtained from undergraduate and post graduate students it was found that only 7.8% undergraduate and 11.1% postgraduate students had excellent awareness about bioethics and 53.9% and 51.9% undergraduate and postgraduate students respectively had good awareness. This awareness levels reflected on their clinical practice as well. The association between undergraduate and postgraduate students was done and p value <0.05 was found to be statistically significant.
Conclusion: We in the field of dentistry, practising bioethics is very important to deal with the patients and help them to progress further in their treatment so it is very essential for the undergraduate and postgraduate students to have knowledge and develop skills in their day to day practice. Lack of awareness and knowledge leads to lack of practice of bioethics. Hence, it is necessary to inculcate the basic knowledge for the students from an undergraduate level to have a successful dental practice without any ethical issues.
