Iranian Journal of Medical Ethics and History of Medicine

Protecting patient’s secrets and private information such as disease name and diagnosis can play an important role in establishing trust in the treatment team. The present study aimed to investigate the issues surrounding the confidentiality of patients’ disease names and diagnoses in hospitals affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences.

This was a cross-sectional study conducted on 216 patients in internal, surgical and women’s wards who had been hospitalized for at least 24 hours. Research tool was a questionnaire consisting of two parts: demographic data, and questions on the disclosure or confidentiality of information such as disease names. Patients' views were investigated through simple sampling method, and data were analyzed using SPSS software and chi-square test. Of the 216 patients entered in the study, 122 (56.5%) were male and 94 (43.5 %) were female. Participants were aged between 16 and 80, and their mean age was 47 ± 18.6 years.

The results showed that 49 (22.7 %) of the patients did not approve of an open display of their disease names and diagnoses above their beds, while a difference was observed between male and female patients in this regard (P < 0.50).  Moreover, there was no relationship between patients’ educational levels and their perspective on other patients’ caregivers finding out about their disease names or diagnoses (P < 0.578).

In this study, a significant percentage of patients were found to be opposed to the disclosure of their diagnoses and disease names. Considering that this phenomenon may prevail among special disease or emergency room patients, it is recommended that authorities take measures against disclosure of patients’ disease names and diagnoses.