Nurses' Compliance to Patients' Bill of Rights in a Secondary Healthcare Facility: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The Patient Bill of Rights (PBoR) which is a "list of guarantees for those receiving health care" has lent a voice through which consumers of healthcare drive accountability and excellence in the health sector. Nurses, as advocates for the patients, have higher responsibilities to respond to the empowerment of patients in PBoR by providing care that places patients first hence the present study. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on Nurses' compliance to PBoR in Sir Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa Memorial Hospital (SPIYMH), Kafanchan, The entire study population of 102 based on census responded to a two-sector, 20-item adapted questionnaire. Data entry was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS V. 23) while hypotheses testing was done using chi-square at a statistical significance level of 0.05. The age of the respondents ranged from 20 - 50 years with a mean ± SD of 28 ± 0.4 years. Respondents had mostly 6-10 years of working experience. Concerning compliance with PBoR, 65.2% of the respondents demonstrated adequate compliance with PBoR. The chi-square test revealed that compliance to PBoR was associated with the ward/unit of practice of respondents (χ2 =11.72; df = 5, p = 0.034) and the respondents' work experience in years (χ2 =13.09; df = 2, p = 0.001) respectively. The study concluded that Nurses in SPIYMH, Kafanchan, Kaduna state, adequately complied with PBoR in their discharge of nursing services which is dependent on the ward/unit of the practice of the Nurses as well their work experience in years.