<b>Health profession students’ awareness and perspectives on patients’ rights</b>

<b>Introduction:</b> The patient Bill of Rights is still an ambiguous concept for patients and healthcare providers including medical students in Uganda. This study aimed to examine the awareness and perspectives of health professions students on patient rights.<b> </b><b>Methods:</b> A cross-sectional study was conducted among 294 undergraduate health professions students from three academic programs at a premier university in Uganda. Only students in their third to fifth year of study and currently engaged in clinical clerkships were eligible for participation. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Inferential analysis was performed using the Kruskall Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U tests.<b> </b><b>Results: </b>More respondents were male (57%) and the mean age was 24 years (SD 4, range 20- 40). Most respondents were medical students (57.1%). One hundred ninety-two respondents (65%) were aware of the Uganda Patients Charter and had mainly learned about it from class (46%) and online (20%). On average, respondents provided 15.9 ± 2.2 (83.7%, range 4- 19) correct responses. However, they had differing perspectives on the right to informed consent in medical care, 63% of respondents strongly agreed or somewhat agreed that a health provider may give medical treatment without the patient’s informed consent. There were significant gender differences in the patients’ right to impartial access to health care (p= 0.039), and voluntary participation in clinical training (p= 0.047). There were significant differences in perspectives on the patient’s right to participate in care decisions and choose treatment plans across the three academic programs (p = 0.006).<b> </b><b>Conclusion:</b> Most students were conversant with the different patient rights prescribed in the Uganda Patients Charter. However, they seemed not to appreciate the patient’s right to informed consent in medical care. They also had limited awareness of the grounds for providing medical care without informed consent.