| dc.description.abstract | Background: Patient rights are those owed to the patient as a human being, by physicians, healthcare workers, and by the state. Without the appropriate understanding of the patient’s rights, the healthcare team may at times be prone to various tendencies such as failure to respect patients autonomy, such as acting in a paternalist manner, or making clinical decisions on behalf of the patients or family, another way it can occur include, cases in which not all options, risks or side effects may be appropriately disclosed. Denial of the right to access health services may be fatal, leading to a loss of trust in the health sector services and damaging the ability of the healthcare system, increasing inequality and causing health status to deteriorate.
Objective: This study explored awareness and perceptions of patients’ rights in clinical services among clients attending the outpatient department at Mawenzi regional referral hospital.
Methods: This was an exploratory cross-sectional study design that employed qualitative methods in data collection. The study was carried out among 34 clients attending the outpatient department at Mawenzi Regional Referral Hospital in Kilimanjaro region, Tanzania: the medical unit, the Care and Treatment Clinic (CTC) unit, the gynecology unit, and the TB and leprosy unit. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 participants, while 14 participants took part in Group discussions. Male participants were 15, and female participants were 19; both were residents of Moshi municipality. The sample size was selected purposively based on their age, locality, and outpatient department attendance, and the data were collected through in-depth interviews and group discussions. Data were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis which allowed the data to find and determine the themes in this study, which were then presented in the form of extracts or quotes. Nvivo 12 software was used to support data analysis.
Results: The majority of the participants were aware of patients' rights. They were able to explain the meaning of patients' rights and their responsibilities with examples, which were all correct. They cited patient rights such as; the right to medical care, the right to information, the right to privacy, and the right to choices and dignity. The minority were not able to do so, because of challenges such as information not reaching everyone in the community (information scarcity), and a language barrier.
The majority of the participants perceived that patients' rights were well implemented in health facilities and were satisfied with them. The minority stated that they are not satisfied with patients' rights because of various challenges that cause their rights to be poorly implemented. The main reasons for the poor implementation and dissatisfaction suggested were corruption in health facilities, the beating of patients, wastage of time while in health care facilities, poor communication with some health care providers, a shortage of medical equipment and healthcare providers, gaps in existing regulations, and follow-up.
Conclusion: Participants were aware of patients' rights and perceived that they were respected by healthcare providers; hence, they expressed their satisfaction. Scarcity of information, a language barrier, poor quality healthcare, limited resources, gaps in existing regulations, and a lack of follow-up impacted awareness and satisfaction with patients' rights. To raise awareness and enhance satisfaction with patients' rights, there is a need for more sensitization of patients' rights through the client's service charter for health facilities and a relevant health policy to guide the implementation of patients' rights. | en_US |
