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| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2023 | Volume
: 13
| Issue : 1 | Page : 29-33 |
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Awareness about medico legal knowledge and consumer protection act (CPA) among undergraduate students perusing bachelors of dental surgery in Jammu, J and K, India
Malvika Singh1, Manju Jamwal2
1 Department of Periodontics, Institute of Dental Sciences, Jammu, India
2 Department of Law, University of Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, India
| Date of Submission | 09-Nov-2022 |
| Date of Acceptance | 09-Mar-2023 |
| Date of Web Publication | 28-Apr-2023 |
Correspondence Address:
Dr. Malvika Singh
Department of Periodontics, Institute of Dental Sciences, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jid.jid_27_22
 Abstract | | |
Background: Dentistry is a noble profession, but there is also growing anxiety both within the dental profession and in the community regarding the increasing trends of complaints and lawsuits against doctors. Knowledge about medicolegal issues is as fundamental to the practice of medicine as the clinical skills. Aim: The aim behind performing this study was to evaluate the knowledge of medicolegal issues and consumer protection act among undergraduate students perusing Bachelors of Dental Surgery in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J and K), India. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among undergraduates and interns in Institute of Dental Sciences Jammu, J and K between May 2021 and June 2021; students were asked about the knowledge regarding medico-legal laws and consumer protection act in a questionnaire. Statistical Analysis: The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software 22 version (IBM SPSS Statistics, Chicago). Descriptive statistics were performed. Results: While analyzing the familiarity of terms such as medical negligence, all (100%) students were aware about the same, but only 38.58% could correctly answer question regarding medical negligence. Nearly 84.10% of students knew about Consumer Protection Act (CPA), but all of them (100%) felt that they should be taught about medicolegal cases and negligence by legal professionals as they had never been taught about the same in detail. Conclusion: The above study shows that the knowledge and awareness in medical law and ethics for clinical students of dentistry have not been properly understood by the students and the same should be taught to them by legal professionals.
Keywords: Consumer protection act, dental students, dentistry, knowledge, medico-legal
How to cite this article:
Singh M, Jamwal M. Awareness about medico legal knowledge and consumer protection act (CPA) among undergraduate students perusing bachelors of dental surgery in Jammu, J and K, India. J Interdiscip Dentistry 2023;13:29-33 |
How to cite this URL:
Singh M, Jamwal M. Awareness about medico legal knowledge and consumer protection act (CPA) among undergraduate students perusing bachelors of dental surgery in Jammu, J and K, India. J Interdiscip Dentistry [serial online] 2023 [cited 2023 Jun 6];13:29-33. Available from: https://www.jidonline.com/text.asp?2023/13/1/29/375284 |
| Clinical Relevance to Interdisciplinary Dentistry | |  |
Clinicians are often less aware about Medicolegal knowledge and Consumer Protection Act (CPA) but often encounter the same in some point of their clinical life. Dental students are the future of the profession and thus, this study is an attempt to analyze their knowledge regarding the same but to correct it also so that they don't encounter it in future.
| Introduction | | |
The practice of medicine is one of the most sincere and noblest professions in the world. Complete understanding of the medical ethics is very crucial in dental practice as to understand the decision of court, legislation, and regulations. Nowadays, due to increased Google-based information, a significant number of dentists are being summoned to court by patients. Therefore, it is essential that dentists should have an adequate knowledge of the law for the implications on their profession. Thus, while providing the oral health-care services, a dentist must be aware about the some set of standards in maintaining the records of almost all the activities related to the management of the patient. This study was done to evaluate the level of knowledge and understanding related to medicolegal aspects and consumer protection act undergraduate students perusing Bachelors of Dental Surgery in Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir (J and K), India. This study was important because there is no special subject where the dentists are exposed to law and medical negligence in their curriculum, hence, assessing their knowledge and creating awareness will make the dentists more responsible toward their patients.
Aims and objectives
The aim behind performing this study was to evaluate the knowledge of medicolegal issues and CPA among undergraduate students perusing Bachelors of Dental Surgery in Jammu, J and K, India. The objectives were to assess the knowledge and practices regarding medicolegal aspects, to assess the awareness on medicolegal programs/courses, and to assess the awareness on Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
| Subjects and Methods | | |
A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted among undergraduates and interns in Institute of Dental Sciences Jammu, J and K between May 2021 and June 2021. The study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee vide no: Ethics/Perio/May/2021.
Source of data
The data were collected through a primary, closed-ended, structured, self-administered online questionnaire.
Study subjects
All undergraduates and interns of the institute were included in the study. The purpose of the study was explained to the study participants, and informed consent was obtained from them during the study.
Inclusion criteria
All the interns and undergraduate student's persuing Bachelors of Dental surgery from the institute who were present on the particular day of investigation were included in the study after giving informed consent. The dental students were given the online questionnaire and were asked to fill it on their own. The questions were designed to assess the knowledge about medicolegal cases and CPA.
Exclusion criteria
Students who did not wish to fill the online form.
Collection of data
Data were collected using a pretested, self-administered structured online questionnaire and are shown in [Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5], [Table 6], [Table 7]. | Table 3: Responses obtained by interns after filling online questionnaire (n=55)
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 | Table 4: Responses obtained by students belonging to BDS final professional course after filling online questionnaire (n=99)
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 | Table 5: Responses obtained by students belonging to BDS 3rd professional course after filling online questionnaire (n=84)
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 | Table 6: Responses obtained by students belonging to BDS 2nd professional course after filling online questionnaire (n=76)
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 | Table 7: Responses obtained by students belonging to BDS 1st professional course after filling (n=82)
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Statistical analysis
The collected data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 22 version software (IBM SPSS Statistics, Chicago, USA). Descriptive statistics were performed.
| Results | | |
A total of 396 students (with a mean age of 21 years ± 6 months) participated in the study. Out of this, 282 were female and 114 were male [Table 1]. While analyzing the familiarity of terms such as medical negligence, all (100%) students were aware about the same, but when it came to testing their knowledge about medical negligence and situations such as treating patient suffering from AIDS, only few (38.58%) could answer in a correct manner [Table 2] and [Graph 1]. Nearly 84.10% of students knew about CPA, but all of them (100%) felt that they should be taught about medicolegal cases and negligence by legal professionals as they had never been taught about the same in detail [Table 2] and [Graph 1].
| Discussion | | |
Dental professionals are expected to deliver good and quality dental treatment at all times. However, if there is a breach in the duty due to an act of commission or omission, then they are said to be medically negligent. The consequences that follow when a patient takes this legally are of great importance to the doctor. Over the past decade, due to the ease of availability of knowledge and information through the digital media, there has been a gradual rise in the level of awareness among patients about their rights. This has led to an increase in the number of medicolegal cases against inefficiency and malpractices in dental practice. Knowing the laws that govern medical negligence will help the doctors serve patients better and more cautiously.
This study is an effort to investigate the awareness of medicolegal issues among students perusing Bachelors of Dental Surgery in Institute of Dental Sciences Jammu, J and K. The result of this study provides a valuable insight into the awareness of medicolegal issues and CPA and need to improve their knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding the same. In our study, all (100%) participants were aware about the term medical negligence which is a good sign. Sections 80 and 88 of the Indian penal code contain defenses for doctors accused of criminal liability. Nothing is an offence that is done by accident or misfortune and without any criminal intention under Section 80. A private complaint of rashness or negligence against a doctor may not be entertained without prima-facie evidence in the form of a credible opinion of another competent. In addition, an independent opinion should be received from an investigating officer, preferably of a government doctor. A doctor may be arrested only if the investigating officer believes that she/he would not be available for prosecution unless arrested which was known by the majority of them.[1] As far as knowledge about CPA was concerned, 84.10% of participants knew about the same which is in correlation with the study conducted by Rai et al., 2013.[2] It is now a firmly established belief that legal and ethical considerations are integral to medical practice in the planning for the care of the patient; however, in the present study, none (0%) participants had never been taught medicolegal language in any form in the curriculum, only 12.12% of participants had some knowledge about continuing dental education courses related to medicolegal language which was in correlation with the study conducted by Senthilkumar et al., 2013.[3] Furthermore, the result of our study showed that senior students had better level of knowledge than juniors [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5], [Table 6], [Table 7], similar results were found by Singh et al., 2014.[4] In recent years, teaching of law and ethics in medical practice has emerged as a core curriculum in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education in many developed countries such as the US, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zealand and the same need was felt by the participants in the study where all (100%) participants felt that medicolegal language should be taught to them as a part of their curriculum by legal professionals [Table 2].
| Conclusion | | |
To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the first of its kind to assess the knowledge of dentists regarding the legal aspects of medical negligence and CPA in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The above study shows that the knowledge and awareness in medical law and ethics for clinical students of dentistry have not been properly understood by the students and the same should be taught to them by legal professionals.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| References | | |
| 1. | |
| 2. | Rai JJ, Acharya RV, Dave D. Knowledge and Awareness among interns and residents about medical law and negligence in a medical college in Vadodara – A questionnaire study. J Dent Med Sci 2013;3:32-8.  |
| 3. | Senthilkumar S, Reddy CV, Ingle NA. Awareness of medico-legal issues among medical and dental college health professionals. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent 2013;11:44-50. [Full text] |
| 4. | Singh G, Gambhir RS, Singh S, Talwar PS, Munjal V. Knowledge and awareness of the Consumer Protection Act among dental professionals in India: A systematic review. Indian J Dent 2014;5:146-51. [Full text] |
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4], [Table 5], [Table 6], [Table 7]
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