Awareness and observation of patient's rights from the perspective of patients: a study in university hospitals in Tehran

Patients who consult hospital due to physical or mental damages have legal rights. Observation of patient's rights will result in patient satisfaction, which will help to improve hospital services. The aim of this study was to determine awareness and observation of patient's right in hospitals affiliated with medical universities in Tehran. This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 2009 in hospitals affiliated with medical universities in Tehran. A total of 601 patients were randomly selected from 11 hospitals affiliated with three medical universities in Tehran. Data were collected using a 50-item questionnaire the validity and reliability of which had been confirmed. Chi-square and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for statistical analysis. The software used was SPSS.17. The mean age of the patients (59% females and 41% males) was 43.3 (SD=18.5) years and the average length of hospitalization 7.1 (SD=7.4) days. Data analysis showed that the proportions of the patients with a poor, intermediate and desirable patient's rights awareness were 71.5%, 22.0% and 5.8%, respectively. Observation of patient's rights was good in 13.8% of the cases, medium in 82.9% of the cases and poor in 3.3% of the cases. There was a significant statistical relationship between observation of patient's rights on the one hand and the hospital ward and length of stay on the other hand (p=0/007). Further analysis of the data showed that the strongest and the weakest observed rights were patient awareness right and the right of making objections and lodging complaints, respectively. The results of this study showed that patients are not well aware of patient's rights and that observation of patient's rights is not at a desirable level. We recommend organizing public educational programs including components on patient's rights and follow-up of patient' rights violations, as well as passing a comprehensive act to ensure observation of patient's rights and specific programs designed for monitoring and supervising it.