The patient’s right to privacy refers to the patient’s secrets that were legally obtained by medical personnel and institutions due to consultation and treatment needs but could not be disclosed through illegal means, in the process of receiving medical services at the time of medical treatment (1). Protecting patient privacy was an ethical obligation of medical personnel, not only protected by law but also a part of the medical process that cannot be ignored (2). With the continuous improvement of laws and regulations in various countries and the increasing awareness of individual rights, the status of privacy had gradually increased in the minds of citizens. In order to be able to optimize the medical treatment environment, it was necessary to ensure the privacy of the patient during the procedure. Therefore, it was of utmost importance to investigate the importance of patient privacy so that the current public health environment can be improved.

Privacy protection was a central tenet of the doctor-patient safety relationship (3). Research showed that protecting patients’ privacy is high on the list of medical professional values (4). Public health care workers should respect patients’ privacy and continuously realize professional values. However, the insufficient protection of patient privacy or even invasion thus leads to the gradual prominence of the doctor-patient conflict (5, 6), and surgery was the most direct way to expose patient privacy (7). Ozturk et al. (8) found that 43.9% of nurses believed that patients’ privacy was violated during medical visits. Excessive exposure to patient privacy during surgery could lead to negative emotions such as mistrust (9), which reduces the effectiveness of treatment and increases the incidence of doctor-patient disputes (10). Therefore, understanding the extent of patient privacy protection in China is essential to improve satisfaction with healthcare services (11, 12).

As healthcare professionals, increasing awareness of safety and risk in the perioperative environment was critical and can significantly reduce the incidence of adverse events, which in turn can impact the desired goals of patients throughout their treatment (13). In order to ensure an intimate relationship between patients and medical staff, their right to privacy must be respected (12, 14, 15). Dialog with patients in the perioperative period could build trust between the two sides (16, 17) and make patients gain a complete sense of security (18), thus alleviating patient tension and anxiety to form an excellent doctor-patient atmosphere.

One study (19) showed that to some extent patient preoperative anxiety is the most common negative emotion in the perioperative period. Stress and anxiety could stay with the patient from the confirmation of surgery until the end of the procedure. Excessive negative emotions of anxiety could lead to a poor surgical experience for the patient and increase the occurrence of doctor-patient conflicts. Strengthening trust between doctor and patient is a protective factor against preoperative anxiety when the patient’s information needs are met (20).Preoperative anxiety is common in perioperative patients (21), and patient privacy satisfaction can be improved by enhancing perioperative education and interventions.

Negligence in the protection of patient privacy seriously affects the patient’s experience during the visit and the quality of services. Focusing on and improving perioperative patients’ privacy satisfaction thereby improving the quality of health care services. Some research has been conducted on the prevalence and characteristics of patient electronic information privacy. However, the factors associated with perioperative patients have not been adequately investigated. Therefore, further studies are needed to comprehensively analyze perioperative patient privacy and its possible correlates. The purpose of this study was to assess the privacy satisfaction of Chinese patients and the factors influencing it using a general demographic questionnaire, a perioperative patient privacy questionnaire, and a preoperative anxiety and information needs questionnaire. The following research questions were posed: sociodemographic information, preoperative anxiety and information needs are influential factors affecting perioperative patients’ privacy satisfaction.

Currently, the patient privacy scale used in clinical settings was applied to the population of student nurses and nurses (26, 27). It was mainly used to assess the degree of awareness of healthcare professionals regarding the protection of patient privacy. In a survey by Schoopp et al. (28) on the privacy of older adults, it was shown that the level of privacy protection varied significantly across countries, with the UK giving the highest level of privacy protection to patients. A study of patients and healthcare workers in an Indian hospital showed that patients have higher perceptions of privacy than healthcare workers (29). Therefore, medical and nursing staff should pay attention to the degree of perioperative patients’ physiological and psychological privacy protection when conducting medical-related operations (30), and improve the quality and level of medical services.

Some studies have shown that patients in urology and cardiothoracic surgery have a higher need for privacy protection (31, 32), while patients in orthopedics and general surgery have a lower need for privacy protection (33, 34). In this study, the investigators included perioperative patients from different departments to investigate the overall level of satisfaction in the context of the current healthcare environment in China. A multidimensional and holistic study was conducted to understand the level of Chinese patients’ satisfaction with surgical privacy protection in different departments and exposure to different procedures, rather than just investigating perioperative patient satisfaction in specific departments. As the surgical procedure requires full exposure to the surgical field, thus putting the patient’s physical privacy at risk, creating a sense of disrespect, and intensifying the occurrence of doctor-patient conflicts.

In this study, the total perioperative patient score was (53.51 ± 12.54), which is in the low level and similar to the results of previous studies (23). The highest postoperative privacy satisfaction score was recorded. The main reason for this may be related to the fact that patients have received increased attention from the medical staff after surgery and that the medical staff has consciously protected patients’ privacy and reduced the exposure of body parts, so patients’ satisfaction with privacy has increased (35, 36). The study found privacy protection to be a common concern for perioperative patients, suggesting that healthcare professionals should assess, identify and intervene in a timely manner when necessary to improve the quality of the medical visit environment and increase patient well-being during hospitalization.

This study concludes that males, older, and preoperative anxiety and information needs were influential factors affecting patient satisfaction with perioperative privacy. The results of the study showed that gender was an important factor influencing patients’ perioperative privacy satisfaction, which is consistent with the findings of Terán et al. (37). Under the influence of traditional Chinese culture, female patients are more concerned about whether their privacy, such as their bodies and personal information, is exposed during the perioperative period. Therefore, healthcare professionals should take different approaches to provide patients with an integrated and comprehensive sense of inner satisfaction, which will also enable patients to feel more confident in speeding up their disease recovery after surgery.

A strong relationship between age and privacy satisfaction was found among perioperative patients, which is consistent with the results of other studies (38). Patients were of different ages and have different needs for privacy protection. Understanding the perioperative privacy needs of patients of different ages is a prerequisite for continuous improvement of the privacy protection program during surgery so that patients can fully trust the medical and nursing staff and reduce the rate of medical disputes between the two parties. For younger patients, the higher the need for privacy and confidentiality. The medical staff provides as much information as possible about the potential for privacy exposure during the procedure, giving the patient an adequate explanation and thus reducing the occurrence of misunderstandings.

When patients were under general anesthesia during surgery, disadvantages such as unconsciousness and inability to control themselves can put patients in a state of fear and apprehension (39), when they become more sensitive to the degree of privacy exposure and thus privacy satisfaction decreases. It was suggested that medical and nursing staff should pay attention to the protection of privacy for patients under general anesthesia, give patients a full sense of trust, and pay attention to covering with screens when viewing wounds and changing dressings after surgery to provide a comfortable and safe environment for patients and reduce their own psychological burden.

Patients who were undergoing surgery for the first time, are nervous because they are confused about the surgical session (40), thus making the experience less pleasant for the patient. Therefore, medical staff explain the procedure in as much detail as possible to first-time patients, communicate with patients to reduce their own panic, and relax by providing patients with music and other ways to improve privacy satisfaction if necessary.

In this study, preoperative anxiety was at a high level, which is consistent with the findings of Eberhart et al. (41) Patients who are in a state of high mental stress and anxiety in the preoperative period not only affect their anesthesia, but also interfere with the surgical procedure. Effective medical interventions can reduce their anxiety levels (42) and improve the success rate of patients’ surgery. Perioperative patients are more likely to have increased anxiety levels due to their lack of understanding of the surgical process and their worries (43). Therefore, preoperative healthcare professionals should provide effective surgery-related information to alleviate their anxiety levels and increase their knowledge so that they can successfully complete the surgery and have an early recovery.

Patient privacy satisfaction was negatively associated with preoperative anxiety and information needs (r = −0.807, p < 0.01). The lower the patient’s preoperative anxiety and the lower the information needs, the higher the patient’s privacy satisfaction. This was consistent with the findings of Khorshidi et al. (44). Analyzing the reasons, it is possible that perioperative patients are more concerned about whether their privacy is better protected because of their concerns about the procedure. Preoperative anxiety was a common psychological state for patients, and it had been documented that therapies such as positive stress reduction and relaxation training can alleviate perioperative patient anxiety levels and thus improve privacy satisfaction (45).

In this study, patient gender, age, and preoperative anxiety and information needs were found to be factors influencing patient privacy satisfaction in the perioperative period, laying the groundwork for subsequent medical staff to provide targeted interventions.

First, the sample in this study was from only one city in northern China, and the different locations may have had some influence on the study results. Secondly, the sample size in this study was limited and could not represent all populations. Therefore, the scope of the study could be expanded in the future to conduct further studies on cultural differences in different countries, different races, different populations, and different disease types.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Jinzhou Medical University. The patients/participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study. Written informed consent was obtained from the individual(s) for the publication of any potentially identifiable images or data included in this article.

MT: conceptualization and writing–original draft preparation. HL and XW: writing–review and editing. HL: funding acquisitions. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.