Assessing Nurses’ Knowledge on Psychiatric Patients’ Rights: A Crosssectional Study at Ndera Neuropsychiatric Teaching Hospital

INTRODUCTION: Nurses are essential in multidisciplinary healthcare teams, especially in their constant contact with patients. Understanding patients' rights, which govern the interaction between healthcare recipients and providers, is crucial. This study assessed nurses' knowledge of psychiatric patients' rights at Ndera Neuropsychiatric Teaching Hospital. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 1 to 30, 2024, using an adapted questionnaire to evaluate nurses' knowledge of patients' rights. Data were collected via Google Forms, extracted as CSV files, and analyzed with Stata version 13. The Chi-square test examined the relationship between participants' characteristics and their knowledge level. RESULTS: The study included 140 nurses with a mean age of 34.15 years (SD = 8.5); 55% were male. Formal training on psychiatric patients' rights was reported by 67.9% of participants during their education and 86.4% at work. The majority demonstrated knowledge of rights such as dignity and respect (100%), treatment consent (97.9%), communication (97.9%), and complaints and grievances (97.1%). However, knowledge of the right to refuse treatment was lower at 67.9%. Self-rated knowledge showed 90% of nurses considered their knowledge excellent or good, while 7.9% rated it as fair. No significant association was found between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge levels. CONCLUSION: Nurses at Ndera Neuropsychiatric Teaching Hospital generally know psychiatric patients' rights well, particularly regarding dignity, informed consent, and communication. However, gaps exist in understanding the right to refuse treatment. Demographic factors do not significantly affect knowledge. Challenges include high workload, communication barriers, lack of formal training, staff burnout, and resource shortages.