This document discusses patients' rights and advocacy in nursing. It outlines various patients' bills of rights which guarantee patients access to information, treatment, and medical decision making. Specific rights mentioned include the right to privacy, informed consent, and making complaints. The role of nurses as advocates who help patients understand and exercise their rights is described. Nurses act as advocates by developing relationships with patients and making decisions with them. They may also be whistleblowers by calling attention to unethical or illegal actions. The document is authored by Prof. Dr. Ram Sharan Mehta on the topics of patient rights and advocacy in nursing.

1. Advocacy in Nursing
Patient’s Bill of Right
Prof. Dr. Ram Sharan Mehta
Medical Surgical Nursing Department
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2. Patient’s Bill of Right
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4. Patients right
 A patient's bill of rights is a list of guarantees for those
receiving medical care.
 It may take the form of a law or a non-binding declaration.
 A patient's bill of rights guarantees patients information, fair
treatment, and autonomy over medical decisions among other
rights.
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5.  Patient rights are the basic rule of conduct between patient and
medical care givers as well as the institutions and people supporting
them.
 It is a general statement adopted by most healthcare professionals,
covering matters such as access to care, patient dignity,
confidentiality, and consent to treatment.
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6. Contd…
 Patient rights encompasses legal and ethical issues in the
provider- patient relationship, including a person’s right to
privacy, right to quality medical care without prejudices, right
to make informed decisions about care and treatment
options, and right to refuse treatment.
- US ADVISORY COMMISSION (1998)
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7. Patient’s rights
To receive reasonable,
respectful and safe access
to health services by
competent personnel.
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8. Contd…
Right to respect for cultural,
psychosocial, spiritual and
personal values, beliefs and
preferences.
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9. Right to freedom of choice
 Patient has right to choose freely, change his/her physician and
hospital or health service institution.
 Patient has right to ask for opinion of another physician at any
stage.
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10. Right to self-determination
• The patient has right to self determination, to
make free decisions.
• The patient should understand clearly purpose of
any test or treatment.
• The physician will inform the patient of the
consequences of his/her decisions.
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11. Right to know identity of person treating the patient
 To be informed of the names and roles of all practitioners
and/or other clinical practitioners who are providing direct
care to the patient.
 The medical personnel shall introduce themselves by
wearing a name tag.
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12. Right to participate in development and
implementation of care
Patient have the right to effective communication
and to participate in ethical questions that arise in
the course of care, withholding resuscitative
services, and withdrawing life-sustaining
treatment.
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13. Right to receive information
Patient has right to receive information about his or her complete
medical condition, recommended treatment, risk of the
treatment, expected results ,and reasonable medical alternatives
in the terms the patient understands.
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14. Right to privacy
• To have personal and physical privacy during medical
treatment, procedure and personal hygiene functions,
such as bathing and using toilet, unless patient needs
assistance for his or her own safety and when hospital
personnel are discussing the patient;
• They have right to have visitors leave prior to an
examination and when treatment issues are being
discussed.
• Privacy curtains should be used in semi-private rooms.
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15. Patient’s rights during medication
 To be informed of drug’s name, purpose, action
potential undesired effects.
 To refuse a medication regardless
of the consequences.
 To have qualified nurses, physicians
assess medication history, allergies
use of herbals.
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17. BILL OF RIGHTS FOR PATIENTS
•American Hospital Association has adopted a
“Patient’s Bill or Rights” as a national policy
statement and distributed it to its member
hospitals throughout the country.
•Summary of 12 rights:
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18. 1. The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care.
2. The patient has the right to obtain from his physician complete
current information concerning his diagnosis, treatment and
prognosis in terms the patient can be reasonably expected to
understand.
3. The patient has the right to receive from his physician
information necessary to give informed consent prior to the
start of any procedure and / or treatment.
4. The patient has the right to refuse treatment to the extent
permitted by law, and to be informed of the medical
consequences of his action.
5. The patient has the right to every consideration of his privacy
concerning his own medical care program.
6. The patient has the right to expect that communications and
records pertaining to his care should be treated as confidential.
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19. 7. The patient has the right to expect that within its capacity a hospital
must make reasonable response to the request of a patient for
services.
8. The patient has the right to obtain information as to any
relationship of his hospital to other health care and education
institutions insofar as his care is concerned.
9. The patient has the right to be advised if the hospital proposes to
engage in or perform human experimentation affecting his care
or treatment.
10. The patient has the right to expect reasonable continuity of care.
11. The patient has the right to examine and receive an explanation of
his bill regardless of source of payment.
12. The patient has the right to know what hospital rules and
regulations apply to his conduct as a patient.
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20. EUROPEAN CHARTER OF PATIENTS’ RIGHTS
•FOURTEEN RIGHTS OF THE
PATIENT
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21. 1-Right to Preventive Measures
2-Right of Access
3-Right to Information
4-Right to Consent
5-Right to Free Choice
6-Right to Privacy and Confidentiality
7-Right to Respect of Patients’ Time
8-Right to the Observance of Quality Standards
9-Right to Safety
10-Right to Innovation
11-Right to Avoid Unnecessary Suffering and Pain
12-Right to Personalized Treatment
13-Right to Complain
14-Right to Compensation
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22. Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities
1. Information Disclosure.
2. Choice of Providers and Plans.
3. Access to Emergency Services.
4. Participation in Treatment Decisions.
5. Respect and Nondiscrimination.
6. Confidentiality of Health Information.
7. Complaints and Appeals.
8. Consumer Responsibilities.
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23. Advocacy in Nursing
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24. Advocacy in Nursing
Client Advocate:
It is the role of the nurse to protect the client.
They assist clients in exercising their rights and help
them speak out for themselves.
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27. Nurse as Client Advocate
• When acting as client advocate, the nurse’s first step is
to develop a meaningful relationship with the client.
• The nurse is then able to make decisions with the client
based on the strength of the relationship.
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28. Nurse as Whistleblower
• Whistleblowing refers to calling attention to unethical, illegal, or
incompetent actions of others.
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29. Errors Due To Human Factors
• Poor Training
• Fatigue
• Staffing level
• Communication
• Distractions
• Punitive culture
Nurses
Many Roles One Profession
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Thank You