Respecting to patients’ autonomy in viewpoint of nurses and patients in medical-surgical wards

BACKGROUND: Respect to patients’ autonomy is a cornerstone of medical ethics and nurses have a key role in respecting patients’ autonomy. In review of Iranian literature, there is no study investigating the respect to patients’ autonomy during nursing cares. The aim of the present study was to compare nurses and patients’ perceptions regarding respecting to patients’ autonomy during nursing care. METHODS: This study had a comparative descriptive design and conducted in 2008. The study population was consisted of all nursing staff (n = 79) working in three related hospitals of Tabriz University of Medical Science using census sampling. Also, 187 hospitalized patients in these hospitals participated with convenience sampling. To assess the respecting to patients’ autonomy, two parallel questionnaires were prepared. Data analysis was done in SPSS using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests and Spearman correlation coefficient. RESULTS: Nurses reported that they respected to patients’ autonomy, but patients believed that their autonomy was not respected. Also, there was a significant statistical relation between perception of health status, need for nursing care, and age of patient and their report of respect to their autonomy. CONCLUSIONS: There is an exiting difference in viewpoint of nurses and patients regarding respecting to patient autonomy. But, because of insufficient evidence more studies are recommended.