Providing information is one of the basic categories distinguished in the field of patients’ rights. Informing patients and collecting from them relevant data about health and diseases is an important part of effective cooperation between the health care staff and patients/clients. Such a scope of rights and duties ensues from the professional function of the nurse, physician and crucial for planning, accomplishment and evaluation of health care.

The major purpose of providing health information adjusted to the needs and preferences of patients/clients is to make them understand their health condition and changes in functioning and to enable them to adjust their health behavior to the present situation in the hope that their condition and late quality will improve.

The medical/nursing literature contains many papers indicating the purposefulness of informative support provided for the patient’s family cooperating in the process of diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation.

The studies whose aim is to show the opinions of patients on the issues related to informing the patients involved 425 individuals - patients of the Railway District Hospital in Lublin and were conducted between February–June.2003.

Using the diagnostic survey the following data were collected:

- personal sources of information facilitating the hospitalised patients to adjust to the hospital setting,

- the initiative of patients to obtain the information concerning their diagnose, disease and hospital stay,

- opinions and fears of patients regarding the information about them passed to the members of their families and other people,

the present procedures of obtaining the patients’ consent to inform other people about their health condition,

opinions of the examined people on the way of providing information,

about the rules of management and behavior after their discharge from,

- hospital.

The material was analysed using Statistica 5.0 (Stat Soft, Poland). The correlations between the patients’ opinions on the above issues and sex, age, education, marital status, place of residence, number of children, assessment of family social relations were examined.