Following are the health care providers’ obligations towards provision of care:
- Treating patients with dignity, respect, courtesy and privacy. Health care is provided regardless of race, religion, sex, origin, age, lifestyle or illness.
- Greeting patients by name and explaining the policies, routines, and facilities of Health Services
- Introducing/presenting themselves with name and designation
- Remaining professionally updated through continued medical education, experience and training, to carry out care plans for the patients under one’s care
- Providing patients with necessary health care education and/or counseling so that they will understand and be informed of the plan for their care, including an explanation of procedures, medications and treatments ordered
- Allow patients to have physical access if physically or visually impaired so to have effective communication with staff regardless of impairment
- Attending patients on time as per given appointments in order to minimize waiting time
- Health facility timings must be strictly observed. All relevant information should be properly recorded
- Prescribing appropriate drugs and in accordance with National Management Guidelines
- To guard patient’s secrets, records, maintain confidentiality and allow disclosure only when required by law or in the interest of health care of patient
- Providing patients complete information concerning their diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. When it is medically inadvisable to give such information to a client, the information is provided to a person designated by the client or to a legally authorized person
- Providing patients an opportunity to discuss their problems and to participate, along with their family, in their individual health care plan and address any questions or problems about their medical care
- To inform patients of their right to change health care providers
- To honor patient’s refusal to any treatment that is not understood or not wanted
- Ensuring information is available to patients and staff concerning:
- Patient’s rights listed above
- Patient’s conduct and responsibilities
- Services available
- Provision of care hour after-hour
- Fee for services
- Patient's right to refuse to participate in experimental research
- Methods for expressing grievances and suggestions to the organization
- Gaining confidence that patient considers the health Services professional to be his/her advocate
- Making the nurse/trained paramedical staff responsible for informing the Physician or other health care provider about changes in patient’s condition
- Providing the patients with basic nursing care including concern for personal hygiene and safety, nutrition, activity, rest and comfort according to their needs
- Being equitable in providing efficient healthcare to all patients under his/her care
- Providing reasonable consultation and examination time to understand the patient/relatives’ concerns and address to best level of their satisfaction. (A reasonable time in our context should not be less than ten minutes)
- Knowing one’s limits while managing patients and refer to other expert in the field or to higher level facility with proper medical notes
- Saving life & limb as far as possible by utilizing one’s best abilities, learned skills and clinical acumen
- Female patients are not to be examined by a male doctor or conducted by a male technician in isolation. For any such requirement presence of another female is mandatory. (So if a Staff Nurse, FMT or Aya is not available, then another female patient or a female relative should be requested to remain present during any such technical conduct)
- Always consider that patient’s demand/complaint is correct
- Try to resolve patient’s problem/complaint as quickly as is possible as patient’s needs are always urgent and non deferrable.
