Patient rights in self-assessment of nurses and paramedics of hospital emergency departments

INTRODUCTION: In Poland, the function of accident admissions is performed by admission rooms and hospital emergency departments. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has radically changed the functioning of the healthcare system. The introduction of the state of epidemic emergency in Poland, followed by the state of the epidemic, was the basis for imposing several restrictions that had a significant impact on the execution of patients’ basic rights. The aim of this study was the analysis of the attitudes exhibited by the emergency department medical personnel regarding the rights held by patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study involved 124 respondents employed in hospital emergency departments. The participants of the study were selected in such a way that paramedics accounted for half (50%) of the participants and nurses constituted the other half. In the study group, males accounted for 54.8% of the participants, while females accounted for 45.2%. 41.1% of respondents held a master’s degree, 25% declared higher professional education and 33.9% declared vocational secondary vocational education. The research used the following methods: a diagnostic survey, anonymous surveys, and a self-developed questionnaire consisting of 15 questions. The statistical analysis was carried out in the Statistica SPSS — IBM SPSS statistical package (Version 28.0.1.0; IBM Corporation, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). For the analysis of the gathered quantitative data, differentiated concerning the independent variable of education, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U and the Chi 2 tests were used at a significance level of α = 0.05. RESULTS : According to 74.20% of the participants, they became familiar with patient rights during their work experience, while only 25.80% of them did so during their education. A satisfactory level of knowledge regarding patient rights was found among 58.10% of all respondents. The most familiar patient right among 88.70% of respondents (90.30% of the nurses, 87.10% of the paramedics) is the patient right to health services. 77.40% of participants adhere to patient rights in their daily work. According to 88.70% of respondents, the requirements under patient rights apply to all healthcare professionals. The most common violation in the work process, according to 65.30% of respondents, is the patient right to respect for privacy and dignity of the patient. CONCLUSIONS: (1) Almost 90% of respondents expressed the opinion that patient rights concern all healthcare professionals, and ca. 80% of them declared that they always adhere to them in their daily professional work. (2) The most familiar patient right among almost all respondents is the right to healthcare services, while the least familiar is the patient right to store valuables in the depository. (3) The statistical analysis carried out for this study did not show any statistically significant differences in the presented level of knowledge and declared attitudes concerning patient rights, taking into account the division between paramedics and nurses.