Human privacy respect from viewpoint of hospitalized patients

Abstract

Patient-oriented care is for nurses a holistic science, of which the patient's privacy respect is an essential part. The aim of this study was to determine the hospitalized patients' viewpoints concerning their privacy respect. This descriptive, analytic and cross-sectional research administered to 370 patients that were selected through a random-stratified sampling in an educational hospital in the Khorramabad in Iran in 2013-2014. Data were collected by a questionnaire about respect of the patient's privacy by hospital staff, including physical-corporeal, psycho-mental, and informational domains. Data were gathered through constructed interviews and analyzed with Independent t-test, One-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation statistical tests. The privacy of patients and its physical-corporeal and informational domains were sometimes observed, while the psycho-mental domain was often respected. The privacy respect was significantly lower for male patients (p=0.000) in the emergency department, and with patients who spoke with a local accent (p= 0.016). It seems necessary to train the health care providers to have more respect in terms of patient physical-corporeal and informational privacy, to observe male patient privacy and to use all interpersonal communication skills when dealing with non-Persian language patients. Furthermore, it seems necessary to revise the structure and design of emergency departments in order to protect the privacy of the patients.