Privacy as an aspect of human dignity in nursing

Human dignity has been considered by religious authorities for a long time and is recognized today in health systems and patient rights. This review article surveyed the articles published from 1990 to 2013. Keywords including human dignity, human status, patient’s privacy and patient’s personal space were used to search scientific Persian databases. Dignity and privacy were used as keywords to obtain articles from scientific English databases. As one of the most significant aspects of human dignity, privacy consists of four dimensions: physical, psychological, social and informational. Care and treatment environments are places where patients’ privacy is commonly invaded. Respecting Patient's privacy is essential for establishing effective communication between patient and treatment team and creating a peaceful milieu for patients. Violation of patients’ privacy may lead to patients’ anxiety, aggression, refusal of physical examination, and concealing medical history which subsequently reduces the quality of services. Since quality improvement is a blueprint for all health care practices, protecting patient's privacy have gained greater significance. It is tightly related to the sphere of nursing, and thus, relevant trainings must be included in nursing students’ educational curriculum and their service training. Further studies are also required to investigate different aspects of this problem.