How empowering is hospital care for older people with advanced disease? Barriers and facilitators from a cross-national ethnography in England, Ireland and the USA.

ABSTRACT:

Background

patient empowerment, through which patients become self-determining agents with some control over their health and healthcare, is a common theme across health policies globally. Most care for older people is in the acute setting, but there is little evidence to inform the delivery of empowering hospital care.

Objective

we aimed to explore challenges to and facilitators of empowerment among older people with advanced disease in hospital, and the impact of palliative care.

Methods

we conducted an ethnography in six hospitals in England, Ireland and the USA. The ethnography involved: interviews with patients aged ≥65, informal caregivers, specialist palliative care (SPC) staff and other clinicians who cared for older adults with advanced disease, and fieldwork

SUBMITTER: Selman LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5860377 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature