Burcu EŞİYOK, Zerrin ERKOL, AHMET TURLA, ZEHTİYE FÜSUN YAŞAR

A Comparative Study on Patient Rights: Medical vs. Dental Students

Health care services require team work and all members of a health care team should have sufficient knowledge about patient rights to maintain their relationships with patients. Therefore, doctors of all disciplines can be expected to be equally aware of patient rights. In an attempt to determine the situation in practice, we determine what medical and dental students know about patient rights. A questionnaire was prepared composed of 17 questions about patient rights. This questionnaire was distributed to the senior students of medical and dental schools at two state universities. The study included 180 volunteer students. Out of participants, 131 students had education about patient rights and 41 of them found their knowledge about patient rights sufficient. There was a significant difference between medical and dental students in their opinions about patient rights to "request consultation from another physician", "ask examination/treatment costs", "decline treatment", "ask information about treatment options" and "ask information about each step of a treatment". There was also a significant difference in their opinions about "obtaining informed consent for drug treatment" and "the type of informed consent". Several declarations and regulations on patient rights have been made both nationally and internationally in the last 20-30 years. However, these regulations should be put into practice and to what extent these regulations and declarations have affected candidate doctors should be evaluated and a standardized curriculum about patient rights should be developed to be used in each medical and dental school in the country.

PDF

___

1. Sütlaş M. Hasta ve Hasta Yakını Hakları [Patients' and Patient Relativies' Rights]. Çivi Yazıları, Istanbul, 2000:50-1.

2. Önal G, Civaner M. Hasta Hakları Uygulama Yönergesi: Türkiye'de Hasta Haklarının Yaşama Geçirilmesi İçin Bir Adım [The Directive For Practice of Patient Rights: A Step to Putting into Practice the Patient Rights in Turkey]. Türkiye Klinikleri J Med Ethics. 2005, 13:203-208.

3. Sütlaş M. Hasta ve Hasta Yakını Hakları. [Patient's and Patient Relativies' Rights] Çivi Yazıları, Istanbul, 2000:183-7.

4. http://212.174.62.29:16080/fmi/iwp/cgi?-db=UNIV&-loadframes Access date, 26.08.2006. 5. http://www.tdb.org.tr/cm/yon/say_ist.php?pid=41 Access date, 26.08.2006.

6. http://www.tuik.gov.tr/PreIstatistikTablo.do?istab_id=14, Access date, 26.08.2006.

7. Ocaktan E, Yıldız A, Özdemir O. Abidinpaşa Sağlık Grup Başkanlığı Bölgesinde Çalışan Sağlık Personelinin Hasta Hakları Konusundaki Bilgi ve Tutumları [Knowledge and Attidudes of Health Care Personel Working at Abidinpaşa Health Group Directorate]. Ankara Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Mecmuası. 2004,57(3):129-37.

8. Nogueira-Martins MCF, Nogueira-Martins LA, Turato ER. Medical students' perceptions of their learning about the doctor-patient relationship: a qualitative study. Medical Education. 2006,40:322-8.

9. Sur H, Söylemez D, Özkan E, et al. Hekim ve Hastaların "Hasta Hakları"na Yaklaşımları [Patients' and doctors' approach to Patient Rights]. http://www.sabem.saglik.gov.tr/kaynaklar/1120_2hasta_haklari.pdf Access date, 26.08.2006.

10. Kosku N, Yıldırım A, Vural S. Hekimlerin Hasta Hakları ile İlgili Tutum ve Davranışları. [Attidudes and behaviours of doctors toward the Patient Rights]. http://www.sabem.saglik.gov.tr/kaynaklar/1121_3hasta_haklari1.pdf Access date, 26.08.2006.

11. Hasta Hakları Yönetmeliği [Regulation of Patient Rights]. http://www.saglik.gov.tr/TR/belge/1-555/hasta-haklari-yonetmeligi.html Access date, 26.08.2006.