Midwifery (2009) 25, 756–765 Midwives and nurses awareness of patients’ rights M. Hakan O ¨ zdemir MD (Associate Professor) a,à , I ˙ .O ¨ zgu¨r Can (Assistant Professor) a , Akc - a T. Ergo¨nen (Assistant Professor) a , Ahmet Hilal (Associate Professor) b , Mustafa O ¨ nder (Specialist) a , Demet Meral (Specialist) b a Forensic Medicine Department, Dokuz Eylul University School of Medicine, Inciralti, Izmir 35340, Turkey b Forensic Medicine Department, C - ukurova University School of Medicine, Adana, Turkey à Corresponding author. E-mail address: hakan.ozdemir@deu.edu.tr (M. Hakan O ¨ zdemir). Received 16 July 2007; received in revised form 10 December 2007; accepted 20 January 2008 Abstract Aim: to determine the level of awareness of patients’ rights among midwives and nurses working in the third and fourth largest cities in Turkey. Methods: cross-sectional descriptive survey conducted among participants working in university hospitals, state hospitals and village clinics. Questionnaires were distributed to 150 midwives and 350 nurses working in university hospitals (n ¼ 200), state hospitals (n ¼ 100) and village clinics (n ¼ 100); 60% (n ¼ 298) of the forms were returned. Findings: fifty-one per cent (n ¼ 152) of midwives and nurses stated that they had not read any legislation related to patients’ rights. Seventy-five per cent (n ¼ 222) of respondents were aware of the legal arrangements. Only 34% (n ¼ 74) of participants who knew of any legal basis for patients’ rights said that legislation was in the form of a directive. No significant differences were observed in midwives’ answers compared with nurses’ answers. Conclusion: violation of patients’ rights and health professionals’ ignorance of appropriate practice means that there is an urgent need to reconsider how to approach this issue. It should be included in continuing education programmes at both graduate and postgraduate midwifery and nursing schools, and also demands more research. & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords Patient’s rights; Midwives and nurses; Legal responsibilities Introduction Different aspects of the relationships between midwives or nurses and patients have been under scrutiny in a manner paralleling that of relation- ships between patients and physicians (Delph, 1993; Watson, 1994; Teno et al., 1995; Chilton et al., 1999; Ozdemir et al., 2000). New develop- ments in medical technology can have a profound impact on patients’ rights (Delph, 1993; Arda, 2000; Ozdemir et al., 2006). Global developments impacting on social, economic, cultural, political and ethical affairs have also affected our under- standing of what is meant by ‘human rights’. However, the fundamental reason for the impor- tance attached to patients’ rights, and the corre- sponding increase in legislation, is that respecting patients’ rights is an essential part of providing good health care (Dickens et al., 1991; Brody, 1992; Fletcher, 1992; Chilton et al., 1999; Patients’ Rights Laws in Europe, 2004; Ozdemir et al., 2006). As a signatory to the European Convention, Turkey has ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.com/locate/midw 0266-6138/$ - see front matter & 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.midw.2008.01.010