Analysis of Intellectual Property Rights Reforms Among Health Care Professionals

The rapidly evolving nature of technology and globalization in recent times makes it imperative to remain at the forefront of innovation and creativity in order to effectuate changes in health practices.

To assess and compare knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) reforms among various academic ranks and grades of healthcare professionals in North India.

A self-designed validated questionnaire comprising 24 close-ended questions was administered to healthcare professionals working in various settings through online links. This cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2023 to September 2023. Prior to this study, a pilot study of 20 healthcare professionals was conducted with a sample size of 747. The reliability of the questionnaire was assessed using Cronbach's α (0.84), and validity was assessed using the content validity ratio (0.76). The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 28.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.

The average age of the participants was 36.31 ± 9.95 years, and their average experience was about 8.53 ± 5.70. The mean overall knowledge score for healthcare professionals was 9.65 ± 1.26 (faculty), and 7.73 ± 1.84 (Residents). The majority of participants 289 (38.7%) agreed that obtaining a patent was tedious process.

Healthcare professionals have scarce awareness of intellectual property rights and their reforms in research. The Ayurveda specialty participants and government institution participants were better aware of IPR reforms, but implementation was challenging for them. Hence, enforcing a robust IPR regime and its appropriate implementation is of utmost importance for an hour.