Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Professional Indemnity Insurance among Dental Professionals in Teaching Institutes of Peshawar
Keywords:
Professional Indemnity Insurance, Dental Professionals, Awareness, Risk ManagementAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate dental professionals' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding dental indemnity insurance (PII) at teaching institutions in Peshawar.
METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2019 to March 2020 among 276 dentists holding a Bachelor's in Dentistry degree and practising in either government or private teaching institutions in Peshawar. Initially, proportionate sampling was used to allocate samples required across the seven study sites, and a random sampling technique was used to recruit samples from the sites. Data were collected using a validated questionnaire covering socio-demographic characteristics, awareness of PII, and perceptions regarding compensation for dental negligence, and were analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. Ethical approval was obtained, and written informed consent was secured from all participants.
RESULTS: Out of 274 respondents (99.8% response rate), 93.8% lacked knowledge of PII, and only 6.2% had insurance coverage. While 64.2% believed PII should be mandatory, 73% were unaware of its existence. Gender, age, and experience did not significantly influence awareness. The majority of participants (77%) had never been asked for compensation, but opinions on compensation amounts for negligence varied widely.
CONCLUSION: The study highlights a significant knowledge gap and low uptake of PII among dental professionals in Peshawar. Addressing barriers such as awareness, affordability, and regulatory enforcement is essential to ensure financial protection for practitioners and enhance patient trust.
References
1. Sameera V, Bindra A, Rath GP. Human errors and their prevention in healthcare. J Anaesthesiol Clin Pharmacol. 2021; 37(3): 328-35. doi: 10.4103/joacp.JOACP_364_19.
2. Kane S, Calnan M. Erosion of Trust in the Medical Profession in India: Time for Doctors to Act. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2017; 6(1): 5-8. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2016.143.
3. Dahlawi S, Menezes RG, Khan MA, Waris A, Saifullah, Naseer MM. Medical negligence in healthcare organizations and its impact on patient safety and public health: a bibliometric study. F1000Res. 2021; 10: 174. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.37448.1.
4. Padmanabhan V, Islam MS, Rahman MM, Chaitanya NC, Sivan PP. Understanding patient safety in dentistry: evaluating the present and envisioning the future-a narrative review. BMJ Open Qual. 2024; 13(Suppl 2): e002502. doi: 10.1136/bmjoq-2023-002502.
5. Smith D, Paynter K, Donley S. Professional Indemnity Insurance. In: The Global Insurance Market and Change. 1st ed. Informa Law from Routledge; 2023: 41. doi:10.4324/9781003319054-12.
6. Kagan J. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/professional-liability-insurance.asp
7. Kanchana A, Jayalath C. A review on professional indemnity insurance for quantity surveyors. In Proceedings of International Conference on Business Management. 2020; 17: 1947-1975.
8. Bhanushali V, Shivakumar KM, Patil S, Kadashetti V. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of professional indemnity insurance among dental practitioners in Maharashtra state, India. J Int Clin Dent Res Org. 2018; 10(1): 17-22.
9. https://www.pmc.gov.pk/Documents/law/PMDC%20Code%20of%20Ethics%202018.pdf
10. Bhanushali V, Shivakumar KM, Patil S, Kadashetti V. Knowledge, attitude, and practice of professional indemnity insurance among dental practitioners in Maharashtra state, India. J Int Clin Dent Res Org. 2018; 10(1): 17-22.
11. Gupta D, Thomas S, Dagli R, Solanki J, Bhateja GA, Mahajan R. Professional indemnity insurance used among graduated and post-graduated dental surgeons in Mumbai city, India. J Health Res Rev Dev Ctries. 2014; 1(2): 44-48.
12. Yashoda R, Puranik MP, Kumar V, Farhanaz F. Dental practitioners' perspectives about the consumer protection act, informed consent, and professional indemnity insurance in Bengaluru city: a cross-sectional study. J Indian Assoc Public Health Dent. 2017; 15(3): 225–229.
13. Veeresh DJ, Yavagal PC, Das A, SR MS, KM MS, John MS. Knowledge and attitude of dental practitioners about professional indemnity insurance in Davangere District: a cross-sectional survey. Int J Curr Sci Res Rev. 2022; 5(9): 3302-3306
14. Hwui Lyn CC, Hong LY, Mohd Anuar MN, Mohammad Nasim NF, Nambiar P. Selecting the ideal professional indemnity insurance: What to look out for by the dental practitioner? Anil Aggrawal's Internet J Forensic Med Toxicol. 2021; 22(1)
15. Westgarth D. Assessing the landscape of dental indemnity. BDJ In Practice. 2023; 36(7): 14-8
16. Ajemunibohun S. Awareness and patronage of healthcare professional indemnity insurance: empirical evidence among medical practitioners in Lagos, Nigeria. Acta Univ Danubius Œcon. 2020; 16(5): 186-202
17. Cover you admin. Why do dentists need professional indemnity insurance? 2024 Nov 4. Available from: https://www.coveryou.in/blog/why-do-dentists-need-professional-indemnity-insurance/
18. Lewis K. Private dentistry: Risk and the cost of professional indemnity. BDJ In Pract. 2022;35:26–27. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-022-1025-3.
19. Selvarathi K, Mary AV, Kesavan R, Bhasakaran BM. Dental practitioners' comprehension of dental insurance policies: A cross-sectional study among dentists in India. Int J Appl Dent Sci. 2024; 10(4): 269-272.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Submission of a manuscript to the journal implies that all authors have read and agreed to the content of the undertaking form or the Terms and Conditions.
When an article is accepted for publication, the author(s) retain the copyright and are required to grant the publisher the right of first publication and other non-exclusive publishing rights to JLUMHS.
Articles published in the Journal of Liaquat University of Medical & health sciences are open access articles under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial - Share Alike 4.0 License. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. This is in accordance with the BOAI definition of open access. In addition to that users are allowed to remix, tweak and build upon the work non-commercially as long as appropriate credit is given and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. Or, in certain cases it can be stated that all articles and content there in are published under creative commons license unless stated otherwise.
