Structure, practice, and assessment of patient rights units at public hospitals: Kocaeli sample

It is observed that there have been positive developments about patient rights at national and international levels in recent years, and that the individuals' level of knowledge about patient rights has correspondingly increased by the practices put into effect. It is noted that technological advancements, changes in the philosophy of life, desire for production and enjoying the best living conditions, individuals' concerns about their own state of health with their increasing level of education had influence on the development of the patient rights. The patient rights, a reflection of human rights, are considered to have gained importance within the changing health system and to have paved the way for the developments towards a higher quality service model for better protection of patients and their relatives. The patient rights units at hospitals, together with their structure and working principles, indicate that they prevent healthcare-related loss of rights of the patient and the patient's relatives, in other words, they play an active role in onset of receiving preventive health services. The main objectives of the study are to introduce the properties pertaining to the scope of work of the patient rights unit serving at public hospitals in Kocaeli Province; to identify problems encountered by the patients and their relatives who received service from the patient rights unit; to determine the patients' and their relatives' level of benefit from the patient rights unit and related problems; to find out services rendered to resolve these problems; and to present the structure and operation of these units. Considering the objective of determining the patients' and their relatives' level of knowledge about "patient rights" and their level of benefit from the "patient rights unit", a descriptive study was conducted by survey, and a questionnaire with the unit staff was simultaneously carried out to present the operation and structure of the unit. Literature review on patient rights in the world and in Turkey was made for the theoretical part of the study. The data obtained by the questionnaire were analyzed in the application part of the study. These data were supported by the interviews. The questionnaire form was taken by a total of 316 patients and their relatives and 17 patient rights staff who were selected by stratified sampling technique. Application to the hospitals and long stays in the hospitals result that the patients and their relatives learn their rights, and it is deduced from the briefing by the unit staff that these units are playing an active role. It is observed that the patient rights staff's being an occupational group helped the effectiveness of the unit; however, the insufficiency of in-service trainings is a deficiency of the structure for the staff working for unit's activities.