title: Nurses' knowledge and performance of the patients' bill of rights.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Observance of the patients' bill of rights is one of the main features of moral codes in hospitals. In this regard, nurses bear great responsibility because they spend a long time with patients. Therefore, the continuous evaluation of the nurses' performance and assessing their knowledge about the patients' bill of rights are a need.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to determine the nurses' awareness of the patients' rights and measure their performance in this regard. Research design and participants: This cross-sectional study was carried out in 2013. To measure the nurses' knowledge and performance, 250 nurses and 300 patients were surveyed. The participants were selected randomly from five teaching hospitals in Tehran, Iran. Two questionnaires, one for nurses (17 questions) and the other for patients (11 questions), were applied. The data were analyzed in SPSS software using descriptive and inferential statistics. Ethical consideration: The research protocol was submitted and approved by the research and ethics committees of the participating hospitals. Additionally, the consent of all of the participants was obtained before the study.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score of the nurses' knowledge regarding the patients' rights was acceptable (69.85 ± 11.7 of 85). Furthermore, the mean score of nurses' performance in observing the patients' rights was relatively acceptable (11.2 ± 4.6 of 22). More experienced and educated nurses had higher knowledge regarding the patients' rights, and patients with higher education level or experience of being hospitalized were less satisfied with the nurses' performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nurses' knowledge of the patients' bill of rights was acceptable; however, observance of the patients' rights was not. It seems that notification of the patients' bill of rights has increased the nurses' awareness of the patients' rights, although improvement of the nurses' performance needs more extensive measures.
authors.affiliation: Iran University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Abbas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikhtaheri
authors.affiliation: Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Monireh Sadeqi
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Jabali
authors.affiliation: Islamic Azad University, Islamic Republic of Iran; Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Zahra Hashemi
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Dehaghi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004991:Ethics, Institutional; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000941:ethics*; D028701:Patient Rights; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Iran; knowledge; nurse; patients’ bill of rights; patients’ rights; performance