Introduction: The law of March 4th, 2002 allows the patient hospitalized to appoint a reliable person who can support him, help him and represent him throughout his disease. This possibility must be necessarily proposed by hospitals. The roles and the missions entrusted to this reliable person do not stop becoming more marked since.
Objective: A study was realized to know if the hospitalized patients knew that is a reliable person and if yes how had they learnt him? The study tried to know who is or would then be appointed and who are or would be and would be the roles and missions which appear to him important?
Method: By one question semi-directive distributed to the patients hospitalized in units of pointed care, following care and the long-term care of Nantes (France), these estimated the roles and the missions awarded to the reliable person by the legal texts.
Results: A meadow of a patient on two does not know who is a reliable person. A direct relative (parent children, spouse and not the regular doctor) is or would be indicated. The reliable person is a help considered very important by the patients. More than 8 patients on 10 estimate him very precious audience in the accompaniment during the hospitalization and in the respect for their last wills more than in the direct support. The patients of more than 65 years old and retired know less well this reliable person. The information delivered to the reliable person has to be the object for the patient of a real partnership with the teams of care.
Discussion: The information and the knowledge by the patients and the nursing of the roles and the missions of the reliable person are clearly insufficient. Establishments in other did not take all the measure of this obligation to propose his name. An initial and continuous training nursing on its subject would be necessary.
Conclusion: The patients grant a big importance for this reliable person and this study shows that the patients would tune him a lot of importance if hospital departments answered their obligations.