title: [How do Dutch dentists deal with patients' rights in practice?].
abstract: In the Netherlands patients rights are regulated in the 'Medical Treatment Contract Act'. This article describes how dentists deal with those rights in daily practice. From the registers of the Dutch Dental Association 806 dental practitioners were drawn at random. They received a questionnaire on this topic; 41.6% responded. The results show that the implementation of patient rights in dental practice is far from ideal. Over a third of the respondents has had complaints about a lack of information from their patients. Respondents who attended post-graduate courses on dentist-patient communication dealt better with a number of patient rights than respondents who did not attend such courses. Confusion over how to interpret the rights of patients and the duties of the dentist could underlie the lack of implementation of those rights.
authors.affiliation: Afdeling Sociale Tandheelkunde en Voorlichtingskunde, Academisch Centrum Tandheelkunde Amsterdam (ACTA).
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Schouten
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003753:Dental Health Surveys; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D004497:Education, Dental / Q000639:trends*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D007879:Legislation, Dental; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires