Awareness, Intention to Act and Action in the Exercising of Patients’ Rights: A Case Study of Patients in Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

Background and Objectives

In Cambodia, the patients’ rights guideline was officially released in 2007 as a measure of the government policy to promote greater awareness and empower Cambodian people to exercise their rights as patients. The aim of this study was to identify the proportion of patients aware of the existence of patients’ rights and compare the proportions of patients intending to exercise their rights and those actually exercising their rights among the aware and unaware groups.

Methods

Data were collected with a structured questionnaire, using face-to-face interview technique, from 142 randomly selected outpatients visiting the Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Intention to exercise patients’ rights was measured on a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 “definitely not” to 5 “definitely yes”).

Results

The proportion of Cambodian patients who were aware of the existence of patients’ rights was 31.0% (95% CI: 23.5, 39.3). The average intention to act scores was 4.0±0.5 for the whole group, and 4.3±0.4 and 3.9±0.5 for those aware and unaware of the existence of patients’ rights, respectively. The difference in the mean scores of intentions to act between the aware and unaware groups was statistically significant (mean difference =0.40, 95% CI: 0.22, 0.58, t₁₄₀=4.514, P< 0.001). Patients reported a total of 250 situations in which they believed they should take action to exercise their rights and 96 times that they took action (38.4%, 95% CI: 35.46, 41.34).

Conclusion

The proportion of Cambodian outpatients aware of the existence of patients’ rights and the proportion of outpatients that exercised their rights were both low. Nevertheless, it appeared that raising awareness of the existence of patients’ rights raised patient’s intention to act, which corresponds to the hierarchy-of-effects behavioral model.

Keywords:

• patients’ rights
• human rights
• equality
• confidentiality
• privacy
• health care services

Acknowledgments

The funding of this study was supported by the Thailand International Cooperation Agency (TICA) and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Khon Kaen University. The authors would also like to thank Dr Glenn Borlace, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Khon Kaen University, for editing English grammar and special thanks to KSFH staff and patients for their collaboration in this study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.