The relationship between patient's rights knowledge level and patient empowerment

Patient rights knowledge level refers to the patients' level of knowledge of the legislation that regulates the processes that patients engage with health care facilities. With regard to both patients and health care providers, the goals of increasing the knowledge levels of the patient by correct inputs during the treatment processes and getting the patients to be more included in the decisions during the treatment process are becoming increasingly important. In relation to this topic, the concept of patient empowerment has been expressed in terms of patient participation, self-management, patient-centeredness and health literacy concepts. With a limited number of studies conducted on patient rights in our country, it is seen that the issue of patient empowerment is a new concept. For this reason, it is planned to contribute to the national literature through this study. In this context, "The Relationship Between Patient Rights Knowledge Level and Patient Empowerment" is revealed by using the "Patient Empowerment Scale" developed by Small et al. and used in eight different countries such as Spain, Portugal, Canada, USA, Belgium and China. The study covers patients over 18 years of age who receive long-term care services (diabetes, asthma, cholesterol, blood pressure and congenital heart disease patients) from public and private hospitals operating in Istanbul. Since the detailed statistics on the related diseases were not available, the population of this study was accepted as people over 18 years of age residing in Istanbul. A questionnaire consisting of three sections was applied to the participants.A total of 661 questionnaires were evaluated in this study. As a result of the analyses, a positive correlation between the level of patient rights knowledge and patient empowerment was found (p<0.05). It was also found that the participants' knowledge levels of patient rights had a positive effect on patient empowerment. Despite the higher knowledge level of patient rights observed in patients receiving health care services from public hospitals compared to those receiving healthcare services from private hospitals, patients receiving healthcare services from public hospitals showed less participation to the statements in the patient empowerment dimension. This result is thought to be due to the fact that the communication between the patients and healthcare workers in private hospitals is stronger, and particularly due to the fact that the relevant treatment and applications are performed more successfully as a result of better information provided to the patient and the patient being included in the process.