Practicing patients’ rights in Iran: a review of evidence

Tahere Sharifi; Ehsan Shamsi-Gooshki; Ali Mohammad Mosadeghrad; Ebrahim Jaafaripooyan

doi:10.18502/jmehm.v14i28.8284

Tahere Sharifi PhD Candidate, Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran; Researcher, The National Center for Health Insurance Research, Iran Health Insurance Organization, Tehran, Iran.
Ehsan Shamsi-Gooshki Associate Professor, Medical Ethics and History of Medicine Research Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ali Mohammad Mosadeghrad Professor, Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Ebrahim Jaafaripooyan Associate Professor, Department of Health Management and Economics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18502/jmehm.v14i28.8284

Keywords: Patient rights; Iran; Biomedical ethics; Ethics.

Abstract

Protection of patients' rights is critical in improving healthcare quality, and hence this study aimed at reviewing patient rights’ practices in healthcare organizations of Iran.

Using systematic search, this review was conducted based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). Several keywords, including "patient rights", "patient bills of rights" and "patients rights’ charter" were searched bilingually in the databases of SID, Magiran, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science from 2010 to 2021, and then, following a three-tier screening using the Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) checklists, 76 articles were extracted.

The degree of compliance with the Patients' Rights Charter (PRC) in healthcare organizations was 60.88% on average. As to the observance of the PRC dimensions, respectively, the highest and lowest scores were related to the "right to privacy and confidentiality" (70.16%) and "right to access an efficient complaining system" (53.01 %).

Respect for patients' rights in organizations was assessed at a moderate level, and some aspects of patients' rights should be attended to immediately. Therefore, discrepancies in the dimensions of patients' rights and their implementation by organizations should be on the agenda of healthcare managers and policymakers.