Knowledge, attitudes and practice of healthcare ethics and law among doctors and nurses in Barbados

BMC Medical Ethics

Table 4 Practice of ethics

Issues in practice of medical ethics	Occupation	Disagree	Agree	Chi square	Cramer's V	p-value
Patient's wishes must always be adhered to	Physicians	43	23	4.0	0.15	p = 0.03
	Nurses	65	26
Patient should be always informed of wrongdoing	Physicians	11	68	0.23	0.09	p = 0.17
	Nurses	7	79
Confidentiality – not important	Physicians	82	1	11.2	0.26	p = 0.001
	Nurses	76	14
Doctor should do best irrespective of patient's opinion	Physicians	67	10	8.0	0.22	p = 0.004
	Nurses	61	28
Consent only for operations – not for tests and medications	Physicians	72	6	3.7	0.15	p = 0.04
	Nurses	74	16
Close relatives should always be told about patient condition	Physicians	62	17	2.6	0.12	p = 0.07
	Nurses	60	29
Children should never be treated without consent of parent	Physicians	13	70	0.78	0.07	p = 0.25
	Nurses	10	80
Doctors & nurses should refuse to treat a violent patient	Physicians	71	7	5.9	0.19	p = 0.01
	Nurses	67	20
If law allows abortion, doctors cannot refuse to do abortion	Physicians	83	3	3.2	0.13	p = 0.07
	Nurses	78	9
If a patient wishes to die, he or she should be assisted in doing so	Physicians	81	2	1.9	0.11	p = 0.15
	Nurses	80	6
If patients refuses treatment due to beliefs, they should be instructed to find another doctor	Physicians	66	11	1.4	0.09	p = 0.17
	Nurses	77	7

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