Investigating Medical Students' Attitudes Towards Patient’s Bills of Rights: Implications for Ethical Care

Abstract Introduction The provision of ethical care is a critical component of the medical profession, and adherence to the patient's bill of rights is essential to ethical care. This study aimed to investigate medical students’ attitudes toward the provisions of the patient's ethical charter. Methods A cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was conducted between March 2022 to July 2022 among several medical students in the 1st to 10th semesters at Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Data were collected using valid and reliable questionnaires containing 22 questions about the patient's bill of rights provisions. The questionnaire scoring scale was based on the five-point Likert scale. Students' views were classified into three levels: favorable, relatively favorable, and unfavorable. Results 230 medical students participated in the study, with a mean age of 21.96 ± 2.89, and 37% were women. The average student had a relatively favorable attitude toward the patient's Bill of Rights provisions. There were no significant differences between men and women or between students who had related programs about the patient's bill of rights and those who did not. The correlation between age and semester by attitude score towards the patient's right charter showed a significant relationship. With increasing age, the attitude toward patient rights standards worsened. Higher-semester students were more unfavorable toward the patients' bill of rights provision. Conclusion The study findings suggest that implementing medical courses and programs related to the patient's bill of rights could be more effective. Medical students' attitudes towards the patient's ethical charter worsen with increasing age and academic term. Further studies are required to identify the reasons behind this trend and improve the implementation of medical courses and programs related to the patient's bill of rights.