Abstract

Assessment of patients' views about the observance of patients' rights in the health system is of great importance for evaluation of such systems. Comparing views of patients and physicians and nurses regarding the observance of various aspects of patients' rights at three hospitals representing three models of medical service provision is the main objective of this study.This was a cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study, and the information needed was gathered through questionnaires. They were filled out by an interviewer for patients, but self administered by physicians and nurses. The field of study consisted of three hospitals including a general teaching hospital, a private hospital, and a public hospital, all located in Tehran. The questionnaires contained some general questions regarding demographic information and 21 questions concerning the necessity of observing patient's rights. The questionnaires were initially filled out by a total of 143 patients, and then consigned to 143 nurses and 82 physicians to be completed. The rate of observance of each right was measured on a Likert scale ranging from zero to 10. Considering abnormal distribution of the information, it was analyzed with non-parametrical tests using SPSS 11.5 software package.The results of this study showed that the study groups had different views about how well different aspects of patients' rights were observed. The highest level of disagreement was related to the right of choosing and deciding by the patients, which was not satisfactory in the teaching hospital.According to the results, it seems that healthcare providers, especially physicians, should be better informed of patients' right of access to information and right of choosing and deciding. Based on the observed disagreement between the views of the patients and those of the physicians in the present study, it can be asserted that the patients thought that the level of observance of these rights was lower in comparison with what the physicians thought.