title: [Social awareness related to the rights of the patient and knowledge of the possible actions in case of a breach of those under 30 years old].
abstract: Patients' rights are a special case of broadly defined human rights. They specify what patient can expect during treatment process and determine his status in contacts with the healthcare system.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to investigate the awareness of patients' rights and knowledge of possible proceedings in case of violation of them among people under 30 years of age.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research was conducted in February and March 2014 on a group of 269 respondents. Research tool was an author-made questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than half of respondents (54.6%) had never heard about patients' rights. Among rights, that respondents know the best were: the right to health benefits (58.2%), the right to information (39.3%), the right to consent to health services (33.6%) and the right to the secrecy of information associated with the patient (32%). More than half of respondents declared that they would report a violation of their rights to appropriate institution - 49.2% of respondents indicated the Commissioner for Patients' Rights, 14.8% the National Health Fund, 11.5% Ministry of Health. The study showed also that the main source of acquiring knowledge about patients' rights for the study population is the internet.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Analysis of the results showed that the awareness of the patients' rights and knowledge of possible proceedings for violation of them among the study population is low.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Humanities, Medical University of Lublin.
authors.forename: Sylwia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kiełbasa
authors.affiliation: Chair of Humanities, Medical University of Lublin.
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Niedzielski
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D028701:Patient Rights; D011044:Poland; D066107:Social Skills; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: patient rights