Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkish Journal of Bioethics, cilt.5, sa.2, ss.48-63, 2018 (Hakemli Dergi)
The practice of medicine has evolved from old approach, in which all decisions for the patient are
taken by physician, to a new approach, which includes patients to the medical decision-making process and
endorses informed consent of the patients. In addition to healthcare professionals and patients, parents or legal
representatives are stakeholders in the informed consent process of children. The knowledge and attitudes of physicians and medical school students about the informed consent period in children are important for the effectiveness of the medical intervention and the biopsychosocial development of children. In this study, it was aimed
to understand involvement of medical students and physicians in the informed consent process of children and
their level of knowledge on children’s rights and their attitudes in daily clinical practice. The study is a descriptive study and n = 150 participants, who were randomly selected from senior medical school students working
in medical school campus or university hospital and physicians serving pediatric patients, were included to this
study. Questionnaires were applied for the measurement of participants’ socio-demographic characteristics, education on pediatric patient rights, and legal provisions. The data were evaluated using SPSS 20.00 software.
Of participants, 62% (n = 93) were phase 6 medical students, while 29.33% (n = 44) were resident physicians and the rest were faculty members (8.67%; n = 13). The proportion of physicians, who didn’t received
training on child rights, was 80.7% (n = 46) and statistically significantly higher than medical students
(49.45%; n = 45) (p <0.001).
However, participants who were not educated about the children’s rights stated with higher ratio (44.83%;
n=65), that informed consent should be obtained before medical intervention from individuals under 18 years
of age, when they are compared to the the participants who received education (20.69%; n=30) (p = 0,019).
The majority of participants (59.5%; n = 88) find the intervention in individuals under the age of 18 years
in emergencies without consent of legal representatives ethically and legally appropriate (p <0.001). The participants believe that it is ethically and legally appropriate to conduct an intervention on an individual under
the age of 18 years without the legal representative (36. 7%; n=54) (p <0.001).
This study compared the levels of knowledge and attitudes of participants, who were previously trained in or
didn’t received any training about children’s rights and informed consent of children. However, the quality of
the training of the participants on children’s rights, was not questioned. This study showed that education on
children’s rights does not significantly increase the level of legal knowledge on children’s rights. Having well-designed a subject focused on this theme in medical deontology and ethics education can increase the knowledge
levels and improve the attitudes of medical students. This study sheds light on the issues that need to be focused
in the medical faculties and the trainings of physicians and showed lack of information and need for development of attitudes regarding children’s rights and informed consent in children.