Privacy awareness, attitudes and affecting factors of patients hospitalized in general surgery clinic

The right to privacy is an important value in medical ethics. This study was aimed at determining privacy-related attitudes and awareness of inpatients receiving health services in health institutions and revealing the affecting factors.

In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 194 patients hospitalized in the general surgery department of a university hospital were included. Data were collected using a two-part questionnaire. In the first part of the questionnaire, questions on the participant's descriptive characteristics and their knowledge about the subject were included. The second part included the "Patient Privacy Awareness and Attitude Scale."

The mean age of the participants was 47.60 ± 16.47 years. Of them, 60.8% were women, 83.0% were knowledgeable about patient privacy and 90.2% had heard of the concept of patient rights. A significant relationship was determined between the participants' awareness of patient privacy, and variables such as age, education level, financial status and knowledge about privacy.

In this study, the majority of the participants were knowledgeable of patient privacy. Almost all of them thought that healthcare personnel were careful about patient privacy. While medical interventions were implemented, it was observed that the participants' body privacy-related awareness levels were high.

Patients' awareness of privacy is extremely important. Informational privacy is as important as physical privacy. Patients' awareness of privacy is extremely important. Informational privacy is as crucial as physical privacy. Patients' awareness of patient rights and privacy is crucial during the healthcare process.

Patient rights are the embodiment of fundamental human rights within the context of the right to health. A heightened patient awareness of their rights is effective in increasing satisfaction with healthcare services. This study is believed to be effective in raising patient awareness of privacy.

This study aimed to determine the privacy attitudes and influencing factors of patients in a surgical clinic. Privacy is an important value in medical practice.