Gift and informal payment to Hungarian nurses after the regulation changes in 2021

Introduction: After our research in 2020 on informal payments to nurses, we made a research in 2021, in a new legal environment, in order to demonstrate nurses’ legal, ethical and empathetic behaviour. Objective: We intended to highlight the manners, sums and other circumstances of gift given to nurses, based on a survey conducted in May–July 2021, with a special regard to the fact that informal payment now constitutes a crime of corruption. Method: In May–July 2021, we questioned 246 nurses in the Albert Szent-Györgyi Health Center of the University of Szeged, Hungary, in order to highlight the forms, circumstances, and sums of informal payments and gift giving. We analyzed the results by means of descriptive statistical methods, with special regard to the differences among surgical, internal medical and pediatric fields. We compared our results to those found in 2020. Results: In surgical field, the average refused informal payment amounted to 13 250 forints (cc. 38 euros), which is higher than the sum measured in 2020. In internal medical care, 13 467 forints (cc. 38 euros), while in pediatric field, 13 286 forints (cc. 38 euros) were refused, which is also higher than in 2020. Gift giving in 2021 is rarer than before 2021. Conclusion: In the new legal environment in effect from 2021 in Hungary, the nurses tend to refuse informal payments and rather accept small gifts after treatment. Orv Hetil. 2022; 163(9): 362–372.