AWARENESS AMONG TERMINALLY ILL PATIENTS ABOUT THEIR DIAGNOSIS, MANAGEMENT AND PROGNOSIS AT AABET HOSPITAL, ADDIS ABABA

Abstract

Summary Background: While medical ethics place a high value to truthful information to patients, disclosure practices are far from being the norm in many countries. Truth-telling in medicine is a broad area and often encompasses several ethical issues where transmitting bad news still remains a big problem that health care professionals face in their everyday clinical practice. Objective: To identify the level of awareness among terminal patients about their disease, management and prognosis. Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at AaBET Hospital (branch of SPHMMC) in Addis Ababa during a period of two month from March 8, 2018 to May 7, 2018. Permission was obtained from the Hospital Director and all consultants in charge of the wards/areas in which the study was carried out. All inward admitted or kept patients within the study period fulfilling the requirements of the inclusion criteria were recruited as the study population and a representative sample from this was selected by convenience sampling as it is suitable to this study. Data was collected using an interviewer administered questionnaire after obtaining verbal and written consent and was processed using SPSS. Results: The awareness of illness in the TIPs at AaBET Hospital is significantly poor when it comes to patients’ awareness about their diagnosis and prognosis but they are comparably better in awareness of the management options. The sources of information are reliable and qualified. Discussions: In comparison with other studies done, the results are comparable even though most of the researches or articles focused on specific diseases such as cancer. Conclusions:It is the responsibility of the doctors to pay more attention to this aspect of management, in order to prevent harboring of inaccurate and unnecessary views by the patient as it is an important ethical principle in medicine for a patient to be aware of his/her medical condition.