Reading Skills for Healthcare Workers

People who receive health care from nursing assistants and other health care workers have basic rights. Some people are patients in a hospital. Others are residents in a nursing home or other health care facility. Those who receive health care at home are called clients. All of these groups can expect to receive health care in a respectful manner and free from abuse. They can participate in the decisions made about their own health care. They can learn about the services, treatments, and costs of their health care. They can accept or refuse the treatments. They have the right to privacy, which means that healthcare workers should not discuss their patients’ private health care issues with others who are not involved.

​

Patients, residents, and clients have the right to complain about their health care or voice a grievance without worrying about reprisal from the people involved in the grievance. They can expect the supervisor of the facility to take the grievance seriously and investigate it. Patients, residents, and clients can also expect to receive a thirty-day written notice if they are to be transferred or discharged from the facility. The notice must explain the reason for the transfer or discharge.

​

When patients, residents, and clients begin health care treatment, the supervisor of the facility informs them of these rights. They and their families need to know what their rights are and what to expect from the health care workers who are caring for them.