Patient privacy investigation in the emergency departments in teaching hospitals

BackgroundPatient privacy is important as one of the most principle components of quality healthcare and safe care. In teaching hospital emergency rooms, it is a challenge for staff to respect for privacy.Research aimRecognizing the importance of this issue, this study aims to assess the privacy status of patients in emergency departments.Research designThis study employs a cross-sectional design.Participants and research contextThis study was conducted in patients of the four emergency departments of the teaching hospitals. 426 patients completed the demographic and clinical profile, as well as a privacy questionnaire, in four teaching hospitals selected based on quota sampling after obtaining informed consent. The data were analyzed with SPSS 26 and independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA.Ethical considerationsThis study was approved by the ethical committee and the designated authority within hospitals.FindingsAccording to the findings, the majority of the respondents were married (65.05%), with a diploma level (30.25%), self-employed (37.5%), and female (50/50%). The most frequent hospitalizations were also for internal emergencies (45.1%), night shifts (42.3%), and workdays (63.8%), with mean age of 41.78 (years and a duration of hospitalization of 6.34 hours). The patient privacy score in the emergency department was 67.61 ± 13.30 and in the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual/religious dimensions was reported as 3.31 ± 15.37, 6.97 ± 36.72, and 6.18 ± 15.50, respectively. The patient privacy showed a significant difference by type of emergency, number of beds, and nurses to bed ratio (p = .001).ConclusionsBased on the results of the study, as the level of patient privacy was average for patients, in order to increase patient trust and improve the services provided, it is suggested that more focus be placed on structural changes, the development of guidelines, training in medical and nursing ethics, and the establishment of hospital ethics committees.