Patients' sense of security from clinical factors in Iran: a cross-sectional study

One of the clinical responsibilities and goals of hospitals is to provide patients with comfort and security. The present study aims to assess patients' sense of security among patients in Iranian hospitals.

The present research employed a cross-sectional design. The sample consisted of 830 patients visiting public, private, and social security hospitals in Mazandaran in the North of Iran. The required data were collected using a questionnaire developed by the researcher of this study.This questionnaire consisted of 4 dimensions:nursing, medical, advanced facilities and patient rights. The participants were selected using a proportional stratified random sampling method. Exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, descriptive statistics, and ANOVA were used for data analysis using SPSS version 22.

The mean scores of patients' sense of security in social security, private, and public hospitals were 4.16 ± 0.89, 3.78 ± 0.67, and 3.60 ± 0.89, respectively. Medical factors with a mean and standard deviation of 3.92 ± 0.76, advanced facilities and equipment with 3.89 ± 0.89, nursing factors with 3.87 ± 0.73, and patient rights with 3.71 ± 0.90 were the highest to the lowest scores, respectively. The results showed that the type of hospital significantly affected the mean dimensions of security (p < 0.05).

The study revealed variations in the sense of securityacross the sampled hospitals. Particularly, the sense of security attributed to the patient rights factors was lower than other factors. Therefore, to enhance the sense of security for patients, it is recommended to focus on staff training and fostering a culturethat emphasizes obtaining informed consent, demonstrating respect for the patient, and introducing the medical team to the patient before initiating any treatment.