Aim: To determine the status of nurses' protecting and maintaining patient privacy and the affecting factors. Methods: This descriptive study was carried out with 161 nurses working in a university hospital in İzmir between April and June 2017. The Individual Identification Form and the Patient Privacy Scale were both used in data collection. Results: It was found that 42.9% of the nurses read the privacy section of the patient rights regulation and all thought that privacy should be related to the patient's body. The importance given by the nurses to privacy was found to be high (4.47 ± 0.44). The mean body privacy score was the highest and the gender-specific privacy score was the lowest. There was a significant difference between the mean scores of the nurses in terms of education, participation in education about patient privacy, and the reading of the privacy section of the patient rights regulation. Conclusion: In this study, it was revealed that nurses gave importance to patient privacy. In order to increase the nurses' awareness of privacy, it is recommended that scientific activities be organized, especially inservice trainings on patient rights and privacy, and further research on this subject be conducted.