Awareness and Knowledge of Non-Communicable Diseases Patients Regarding Patients’ Rights before and after Applying an Interventional Educational Session

Objective: To assess to assess the awareness of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) patients toward the Saudi Patients Bill of Rights and their knowledge toward their rights. Patients and Methods: This study was conducted at the chronic disease clinics of primary health care centers in Jeddah City. A simple random sample was adapted to select eight primary health care centers within Jeddah City. Within each primary health care center, the researcher followed a consecutive sampling technique to interview 341 patients attending the chronic diseases clinic. The researcher constructed a study questionnaire that comprised socio-demographic variables and variables related to the awareness of non-communicable diseases patients regarding the Saudi Patients Bill of Rights (PBR) and their knowledge toward patients rights. Results: The age of patients ranged between 18 and 82 years with a mean of 49.2±13.0 years. More than half of them (53.8%) were females. 7.7% of NCDs patients heard of patients rights bill while 1.6% of NCDs patients read about it. The Younger, single, university educated, those recruited from AlSalama sector, those who never complained about appointments and those who heard of patients rights showed higher level of patients rights awareness about patient rights. Patients knowledge about patients rights significantly improved after an educational intervention among all groups. Conclusions: The great majority of non-communicable diseases patients have low level of awareness about the PBR. The level of knowledge about patients rights is associated with some characteristics (i.e., age, qualification, gender, diagnosis, geographical sector and occupation). Patients knowledge regarding patients rights improves significantly after conducting educational intervention session. Recommendations: To raise the knowledge and awareness of the public toward patients rights through the media and the internet. Further research is required to measure the longterm effectiveness of interventional health education on raising the awareness and knowledge of patients. Distributing clear and simplified brochures and leaflets about PBR in all health facilities as a part of health education program aiming to raise the awareness of patients about the PBR.