title: Patients' Awareness About Their Rights: A Study from Coastal South India.
abstract: Respecting patients' rights is a fundamental aspect of providing quality healthcare. The present investigation attempts to explore the awareness among patients about their rights in a coastal township in India. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was carried out among 215 patients admitted to the wards of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Mangalore. Awareness among patients regarding their rights varied for various issues and ranged between 48.4 and 87.4 %. Awareness about patients' rights was independent of gender, socio-economic and educational status. Doctors were found to be the most common source of information for patient's about their rights in the study. Doctors must conform to the relevant legislations and involve patients in all aspects of healthcare. There is a need to increase awareness among patients about their rights to ensure informed decisions and better health care services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Bhaskaran
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Unnikrishnan
authors.affiliation: Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Divya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Trivedi
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, 575 001, Karnataka, India. tanujkanchan@yahoo.co.in.
authors.forename: Tanuj
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kanchan
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Thapar
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Rekha
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Prasanna
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mithra
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Nithin
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Vaman
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kulkarni
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Ramesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Holla
authors.affiliation: Kasturba Medical College (Manipal University), Mangalore, Karnataka, India.
authors.forename: Mishaal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Talish
mesh_terms: D001364:Awareness; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003657:Decision Making / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D028701:Patient Rights; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: Awareness; Healthcare; Mangalore; Patients; Rights; South India