From Fear to Faith: Why patient rights are the heart of quality healthcare

When patients access healthcare, we do so knowing we have certain rights. The definition of quality, as it relates to patient rights in healthcare, is conformance to the established requirements or standard of any organization.

Unfortunately, value of these indispensable healthcare ideals is appreciated only when you or your loved one is in the midst of a severe illness and you are visiting any hospital.

It is important to know, how good your doctor and hospital is.

One way to assess the quality of a healthcare facility is to check whether it adheres to independently verified Quality and Patient Safety (QPS) standards, ideally certified by a national or international accreditation body.

In the absence of such accreditation, how do you choose? Do you prioritize the doctor’s or hospital’s reputation, the cost of care, or your own safety?

When it comes to healthcare, patient safety must be the cornerstone. It is the foundation of a truly healing experience.

Best practice standards ensure uniformity, consistency, and continuity in care—across all individuals and levels. They create an environment where both patients and providers can expect respectful, inclusive, and effective care—delivered based on individual needs, not personal background or social status.

One of requirements for recognition by any national or international accreditation body is its performance indicators on adherence to its policy of patient and family rights.

These rights have to tailored to its available resources, and local customs, displayed clearly and boldly by the organizational leadership in the languages which local population easily understands at each and every entry point of the hospital.

In a Governamental setup that’s what any ordinary patient would expect from a care provider, while a tech savy patient or any Medical Professional would expect his/her treatment on the evidence based clinical best practice guidelines and protocols.

In the private sector where patients are considered as clients,  apprehensions on financial implications, “Heal me without exploitation,” are always there.

You have the right to know about hospital rules that affect you and your treatment and about charges and payment methods.

Though the list of patient rights varies from country to country, most of the rights encompass legal and ethical issues in the provider-patient relationship, including a person’s right to privacy.

The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care along with recognition of their individuality and personal needs.

You have the right to expect that the hospital will give you necessary health services to the best of its ability.

Every patient has the right to be informed and understand all of the procedures, treatments and/or alternatives to treatments to be performed while in the hospital.

This includes the right to know if the hospital proposes to engage in or perform human experimentation or other research/educational projects which may affect the patient’s care or treatment.

You have the right to know about hospital methodology and resources, such as patient representatives, councilllors, social workers, or ethics committees, that can help you resolve problems, questions and about your hospital stay, staff and care.

In case of violation of these rights you have the right to complain through official channels or through OVA (Occurrence , Variation, Accidents) reporting system- by clearly mentioned contact details on display boards.

Gap analysis

Every day, undoubtedly, thousands of Valleyites receive health care that helps to maintain or restore their health. However, too many of us are dissatisfied.

Is it because of the overcrowded and unsafe conditions , or is it the attitude with which patients are treated? Or do such anxieties arise out of stories of adverse events, like hospital blunders hitting news headlines revealing terrible inadequacies in care and the sorry state of overall system of healthcare accountability.

Assuredly, most of the care providers are very good.

There is a perception in the general public that one can’t get proper medical care unless you are carrying recommendations of any political, social authority, or a physician’s private prescription slip.

Such apprehensions need re-institution of trust by introducing “standards of patient and family rights” in hospitals at its earliest.

Patient and family responsibility

Quality in healthcare is everybody’s responsibility. A smooth working atmosphere in an institution is always a prerequisite to professional compliance.

Nobody wants demoralized staff caring for them. Since being ill can make even the most assertive person feel vulnerable we need a little help from the community too.

Eliminating disruptive behavior is essential to creating a culture of safety in Hospitals.

The wiser patients also realize that along with those patient’s rights, we have responsibilities, too.

It’s not uncommon for people to react to that stress in a very hostile, aggressive fashion. Compromised standards, lack of clear protocols, sub-standard essentials, spurious drugs and malfunctioning machinery often mean the staff or building or ambulances have to face the wrath of attendants/crowd on streets including media trials.

All patients, whether infants, children, adolescents or adults, have the right to considerate and respectful care, regardless of his/her status, or the patient’s ability to pay for services provided.

Most of our problems arise in expectation zone. Can we actually restore the same old faith in the physician’s nobility by introducing patient and family rights and responsibilities in our institutions?

Doctor Fiaz Fazili is an Acute Care Surgeon and works as a consultant on Health Care Quality Improvement and Standards.