Patients' Awareness and Perception of Rights at Educational and Non- Educational Hospitals In Zagazig City

Background: Patient’s rights, is an important part of modern healthcare practice and
considered a reflection of human rights in the modern-day society. Promoting patient’s rights
is a priority of healthcare policy makers and health care providers in clinical practice
especially in Low- and Middle-Income Countries where healthcare ethics is neglected.
Objective: The current study was conducted to assess patients' awareness about their rights in
educational and non-educational hospitals. Method: An observational cross-sectional study
was carried out over a period of six months; from March to September 2017, at Internal
medicine and Surgical departments. A sample size of 360 patients were randomly selected
(240 from Zagazig University hospitals/educational hospital and 120 from General Zagazig
hospital & Ahrar hospital/non-educational) selected randomly and respectively. Data was
collected using an interview-based questionnaire. Results: There was significant difference in
perception of rights between patients in educational and non-educational hospitals, moreover,
between surgical and internal medicine departments mainly in the non-educational hospitals.
The most practiced rights from the patients’ perspective were asking for permission prior to
examination, exposure of any part of the body and confidentiality of the admission file.
Conclusion: The difference between hospitals in the implementation of ehtics and patient
rights is highly linked to the attitude of the doctors in treating the patient and being trained to
respect privacy and confidentiality of patients. Educational hospitals are more practing
patients’ rights than noneducational ones.