Patient Safety in Republic of North Macedonia

Abstract

Legislative framework for patient rights and safety in the Republic of North Macedonia (Macedonia) has been analyzed in a cross sectional study, with special emphasis on the harmonization with European and international legislation and the implementation in practice. Public health approach and evidence synthesis method have been applied for the analysis of the relevant legislation. The implementation of the legislation in practice has been assessed with a survey conducted on a representative stratified sample of 200 patients in the Polog Region in the period from October to November 2017 in the Clinical Hospital Tetovo and the General Hospital Gostivar, with specially designed instrument. The legislative framework for patient safety in Macedonia is comprehensive and if implemented the patient is guaranteed legal rights in the process of treatment, respect and protection of his personality and integrity. National legislation on patient rights is harmonized with the European and international. Patient’s information about their rights is not satisfactory (57%), while patient’s personal experience with use of these rights is significantly lower (38, 3%). Generally there are no differences in the implementation of national legislation on patient rights by sex, age, ethnicity, religion and place of residence of patients. Some rights have a significant correlation between the level of education and employment status of the patient with the enjoyment of the rights. There is a need to improve the patient safety, applying evidence based policies for advocacy of patient rights and safety, education of health professionals and compulsory implementation of the legislation in practice.