Analysis of Intellectual Property Rights Reforms Among Health Care Professionals

<p dir="ltr">The rapid advancements in technology and globalization have made it essential for healthcare professionals to remain innovative and creative to bring meaningful changes in health practices. This study aimed to assess and compare the knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) reforms among healthcare professionals across different academic ranks and cadres in North India. A self-designed, validated questionnaire consisting of 24 close-ended items was administered online to 747 healthcare professionals from various healthcare settings, following a pilot study of 20 participants. The tool demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach’s α = 0.84) and acceptable validity (Content Validity Ratio = 0.76). Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics Version 28. The mean age of responders was 36.31 ± 9.95 years, with an average professional experience of 8.53 ± 5.70 years. Faculty members showed a higher mean knowledge score (9.65 ± 1.26) compared to residents (7.73 ± 1.84). Additionally, 38.7% of participants agreed that obtaining a patent is a tedious process. Overall, the findings indicate that healthcare professionals possess limited awareness of IPR and ongoing reforms, with Ayurveda specialists and government institution employees showing relatively better awareness despite facing challenges in practical implementation. These results highlight the urgent need for a stronger and more effectively enforced IPR framework within the healthcare sector.</p>