Knowledge of patients’ rights as a guarantee of occupatonal safety in nurses

Abstract

Introduction. In the modern society, more and more attention is being paid to the quality of medical care and the protection of patients’ rights. The most important area of work of medical and nursing staff is the development of children’s healthcare and the provision of qualified personnel to medical institutions, and, in this regard, legal training and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice is a necessary component of successful occupational activity. Objective of the work: to determine the level of training and degree of interest in obtaining additional legal knowledge among nursing specialists in various regions of Russia. Materials and methods. The results of the survey of nurses during the annual scientific and practical conferences “Filatov readings. Current issues of children’s health” over 2021–2023. Results. At the first stage of the study, all respondents rated their level of general legal literacy as average (from 3 to 4 points), while self–assessment of preparedness in the field of medical law was significantly lower — from 2 to 3 points, i.e. insufficient. Also, all the respondents showed an extremely high interest in obtaining additional knowledge in the field of medical law. At the second stage of the study, respondents were shown to consider knowledge of patients’ rights to be the most important area of legal knowledge for their professional activities. Also in demand topics are: the main types of offenses in the field of healthcare, types of responsibility of medical workers, circumstances excluding the guilt of medical workers, as well as their rights and obligations. Conclusion. Increasing the level of legal awareness of nursing staff will minimize the risk of violation of citizens’ rights when providing them with medical care, provided that medical workers faithfully perform their occupational duties, and also allow protecting themselves from unfounded accusations of patients, which is a guarantee in terms of protecting professional activities.