Patient Rights Course Overview
The Patient Rights Training course gives healthcare workers a clear, practical understanding of the rights patients are guaranteed and what those rights mean in daily practice.
Learners start with the foundational concept of the patient’s right to treatment and the responsibilities providers have when someone presents for care. The course then explains how patients must be informed of their rights, how those rights can be exercised, and what obligations staff have around privacy, safety, and confidentiality of records.
From there, the course covers the criteria for properly using restraint and seclusion and outlines patient visitation rights. Throughout, the focus is on recognizing where rights may be at risk and taking appropriate action to prevent violations.
Patient Rights Course Content
Lesson 1: Introduction and Objectives
Patient bill of rights history, importance of dignity and respect in healthcare, healthcare worker responsibilities, legal foundations for patient rights, and course objectives
Lesson 2: Right to Treatment
EMTALA requirements, right to emergency medical screening regardless of ability to pay, prohibition on patient dumping, appropriate medical screening examinations, stabilization requirements before transfer, informed consent requirements, patient right to refuse treatment, and exceptions to consent
Lesson 3: Notice and Exercise of Patient Rights
Right to receive information about their rights, right to receive information about their health status and treatment options in understandable terms, right to participate in care planning and treatment decisions, informed consent process, implied consent, verbal consent, written consent requirements, consent for minors and incapacitated patients, advance directives, and healthcare proxy designation
Lesson 4: Right to Privacy, Safety and Confidentiality of Records
HIPAA privacy protections, right to confidential treatment of medical records, right to privacy during care and treatment, right to safety from abuse and harassment, right to personal privacy and dignity, right to have pain assessed and managed, right to be free from unnecessary restraints, and grievance procedures for rights violations
Lesson 5: Restraint and Seclusion
Federal regulations on restraint and seclusion use, criteria for restraint application, types of restraints, physician orders and monitoring requirements, documentation obligations, prohibited uses of restraints, patient assessment during restraint, and discontinuation criteria
Lesson 6: Patient Visitation Rights
Right to designate visitors regardless of relationship, right to withdraw or deny consent for visitors, restrictions only when medically necessary or safety concerns exist, nondiscrimination in visitation, accommodation of cultural and religious preferences, and special considerations for pediatric and end-of-life care
