Emotions, Significance and Improvement Expectations: The Personal Matter of a Patient's Hospital Stay
Year: 2017
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Health systems aim to provide quality healthcare. Patients’ experiences can inform quality improvements. Background: Mailed standardized surveys are a way to engage patients about inpatient care experiences. While results from rating-scale questions are regularly reported, no study has analyzed patients’ written responses. Purpose: To learn about patients’ perspectives of hospital care, survey comments were examined. Method: Inductive content analysis of 1,638 written responses was conducted within a qualitative description study design. Findings: Patients’ comments suggest: Emotions pervade patients’ hospital stay experiences with feelings about perceptions of safety, personhood and preparation for returning to living life; moments in time personalize hospital experiences; and the survey is viewed as an implied contract, where patients provide feedback in exchange for hospital improvements. Implications: Findings affirm current understandings about inpatient experiences and extend them. Patients’ comments reveal new insights about the specifics of patient-centered care, patient experience and quality healthcare that merit further study.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Isabella K. S. Cheng
Language: English
Subfield: General Health Professions
Field: Health Professions
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2611417940