Background and purpose: Many studies investigated patient rights in Iran in the past decade, but there is few information on the awareness of cancer patients about their rights. This study was conducted to evaluate the awareness of hospitalized cancer patients about patient bill of rights.

Materials and methods: In a cross-sectional study 200 patients with cancer in oncology ward in Sari Imam Khomeini Hospital were recruited and face to face interviews were conducted (in 2014). Information was collected in a four-part survey questionnaire based on patient bill of rights. Data analysis was performed in SPSS10.

Results: The patients were 56.5% males and the mean age was 55.5±16.62 years. Among the patients 34% were illiterate and 17% were found to be with low literacy. The majority of the participants (79%) had not seen the patient bill of rights and 16% had low information about that. Also, most of the participants (98%) reported poor performance of the hospital staff in providing the patients with the contents of patient bill of rights at the time of registration and conditions and treatment costs at the time of admission. There were significant relationships between the scores for knowledge on patient bill of rights, educational level, occupation, and income.

Conclusion: In this study, the patients did not have enough information about their rights, therefore, appropriate planning is needed to increase awareness among patients about their rights.