Outpatients’ Awareness and Understanding of Patients’ Rights: the Case of Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Abstract

Objectives: 1) To identify the proportion of Cambodian patients who were aware of the existence of patients’ rights, their knowledge of the content in the patients’ rights guideline and their perception of patients’ responsibilities, and 2) To compare the differences of the awareness of the existence of patients’ rights across different socio-demographic groups. Methods: The sample was 250 randomly selected outpatients visiting the Khmer Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. A face-to-face interview, using a structured questionnaire, was employed to collect data between October and December 2019. Results: The proportion of the sample who were aware of the existence of a patients’ rights was 31.6% (95%CI: 25.9, 37.8). Of those who were aware, 62.0 % (95%CI: 50.4, 72.7) had high level of knowledge about the content of the patients’ rights guideline (having knowledge score > 8 out of 10), and 84.8% (95%CI: 75.0, 91.9) had the perception of patients’ responsibilities that matched with what was included in the patients’ rights guideline at high level (having perception score > 10 out of 12). Of those who were unaware of the existence of patients’ rights, 62.6% (95%CI: 54.9, 69.8) had the perception of patients’ responsibilities that matched what was included in the patients’ rights guideline at high level. There was no difference in the awareness of the existence of patients’ rights by gender nor numbers of visits to the hospital. However, those in the younger age group, higher educational level and the white-collar employment group appeared to be more aware of the existence of patients’ rights than the older age group, lower education level and the blue-collar employment group, respectively. Conclusion: The policy to promote patients’ rights has been implemented for more than 10 years, however, the proportion of Cambodian patients who were aware of the existence of and had knowledge of patients’ rights in their own country is still low. Research to identify strategies to promote and explain the contents of the Cambodian patients’ rights guideline among patients in older age group, lower education level and the blue-collar employment sector should be further studied.