Nursing and medical students' attitudes toward the rights of hospitalized patients

A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure the attitudes of Israeli nursing and medical students toward the rights of hospitalized patients in a cross-sectional study of first and fourth year students. Mean attitude scores were high in all student groups showing strong agreement with theoretical rights. Senior nursing students showed significantly higher scores than first-year nursing students. Eighty-eight percent of all students and 100% of senior nursing students considered a blanket consent procedure inadequate for protecting patient's rights. Senior nursing students assigned responsibility for protecting patients' rights to nurses, doctors, hospital administration, and the patient/family with higher frequency than other student groups.