This diploma thesis dealt with the issue of awareness of a patient and his or her opportunity to co-decide during hospitalization at an internal department. There were set three targets. The first one was to find out the level of the awareness of the patient during hospitalization about a care plan. From the result of a research is evident that patients feel lack of clear information about the care plan. The second target was to find out whether the patient has a chance to co-decide about a provided care during hospitalization. Comparing results from particular investigations there was a contrary between opinions of patients and medics. Patients think that the opportunity to co-decide is given to them. However, medics think that the opportunity of the patient to co-decide is limited. The third target was to find out, which questions in connection with a process of hospitalization patients ask nurses. Results of the investigation show that the most frequent questions are about the length of hospitalization. The diploma thesis is divided into two parts-theoretical and empirical. The theoretical part describes issues of the process of hospitalization of the patient since his/her income until his/her discharge from hospital. The investigative part was implemented by combination of a quantitative and a qualitative research. For the quantitative part of the investigation there was chosen the method questionnaire with a technique of half-structured interview offering open questions. Into the research file was involved 15 patients hospitalized at the internal department involved. There were set three investigatory questions. 1. What obstacles do exist in order to provide clear information during hospitalization of the patient? The research found out that the most frequent obstacle of intelligibility is a large amount of given information and frequent usage of terminology. 2. What obstacles do exist in order to make the patient an active participant when giving information? The investigation surprisingly resulted that that is not a misunderstanding or lack of empathy from the medic?s position or lack of interest from patient?s position. The main problem to make the patient the active participant during giving information is lack of medic?s time on patients. 3. Does the level of awareness of the patient saturate his or her need of certainty and security? The investigation showed that by the level of awareness is saturated the need of certainty and security. To gain data for the chosen issue of the quantitative research we used the method of questioning by a questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 17 questions, 14 closed questions, 2 half-opened questions and 1 open question which offered to show a personal opinion. Respondents that were asked were students of paramedic assistant, nursing and paramedic resque worker, furthermore working nurses from both ambulant and bed sector, nurses from management and teacher of praxis. For the quantitative research we had two hypotheses: 1. Frequency of asking questions about the length of hospitalization equals to asking about the health condition. From the research was found out, that frequency of asking about the length of hospitalization is much higher than questions about the health condition. The first hypothesis was not verified. 2. During giving information nurses take for granted to include needs of the patient. The investigation showed that nurses during the hospitalization take for granted to include also patient?s opinions expressing his or her needs. The second hypothesis was verified. Results of our investigation gained in this diploma thesis will be used as sources for a distribution of informative materials for patients. We also think that it would be useful to inform nurses working at internal departments about the results. The results could also be interesting for students of high schools or universities preparing themselves for jobs of medical workers.

This thesis focuses on the topic of active citizenship in democratic societies. An emphasis is placed on the clarification of the role of the citizen as an engaged participant in the political process at the local level. This issue is contextualized within the theory of democracy, which legitimacy is fulfilled by the citizen participation. The empirical part is devoted to the research of the citizen participation in the Dutch city of Utrecht, where the way of cooperation between citizens and public officers was investigated in the process of public policy making. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the form and the contribution of the civic participation in Utrecht. Keywords democracy, democracy at the local level, participatory democracy, citizen, participation, codecision, cooperation, relationship between the citizen and the politician, level of participation