Dataset Information

We want to know: patient comfort speaking up about breakdowns in care and patient experience.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To assess patient comfort speaking up about problems during hospitalisation and to identify patients at increased risk of having a problem and not feeling comfortable speaking up.

Design

Cross-sectional study.

Setting

Eight hospitals in Maryland and Washington, District of Columbia.

Participants

Patients hospitalised at any one of eight hospitals who completed the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey postdischarge.

Main outcome measures

Response to the question 'How often did you feel comfortable speaking up if you had any problems in your care?' grouped as: (1) no problems during hospitalisation, (2) always felt comfortable speaking up and (3) usually/sometimes/never felt comfortable speaking up.

Results

Of 10 212 patients who provided valid responses, 4958 (48.6%) indicated they had experienced a problem during hospitalisation. Of these, 1514 (30.5%) did not always feel comfortable speaking up. Predictors of having a problem during hospitalisation included age, health status and education level. Patients who were older, reported worse overall and mental health, were admitted via the Emergency Department and did not speak English at home were less likely to always feel comfortable speaking up. Patients who were not always comfortable speaking up provided lower ratings of nurse communication (47.8 vs 80.4; p<0.01), physician communication (57.2 vs 82.6; p<0.01) and overall hospital ratings (7.1 vs 8.7; p<0.01). They were significantly less likely to definitely recommend the hospital (36.7% vs 71.7 %; p<0.01) than patients who were always comfortable speaking up.

Conclusions

Patients frequently experience problems in care during hospitalisation and many do not feel comfortable speaking up. Creating conditions for patients to be comfortable speaking up may result in service recovery opportunities and improved patient experience. Such efforts should consider the impact of health literacy and mental health on patient engagement in patient-safety activities.

SUBMITTER: Fisher KA

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6449036 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

We want to know: patient comfort speaking up about breakdowns in care and patient experience.

Fisher Kimberly A KA Smith Kelly M KM Gallagher Thomas H TH Huang Jim C JC Borton James C JC Mazor Kathleen M KM

BMJ quality & safety 20180929 3

<h4>Objective</h4>To assess patient comfort speaking up about problems during hospitalisation and to identify patients at increased risk of having a problem and not feeling comfortable speaking up.<h4>Design</h4>Cross-sectional study.<h4>Setting</h4>Eight hospitals in Maryland and Washington, District of Columbia.<h4>Participants</h4>Patients hospitalised at any one of eight hospitals who completed the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey postdischarge.<h4>Main ...[more]

PMID: 30269059

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Project description:BackgroundSpeaking up is important for patient safety, but often, health care professionals hesitate to voice concerns. Understanding the influencing factors can help to improve speaking-up behaviour and team communication. This review focused on health care professionals' speaking-up behaviour for patient safety and aimed at (1) assessing the effectiveness of speaking up, (2) evaluating the effectiveness of speaking-up training, (3) identifying the factors influencing speaking-up behaviour, and (4) developing a model for speaking-up behaviour.MethodsFive databases (PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library) were searched for English articles describing health care professionals' speaking-up behaviour as well as those evaluating the relationship between speaking up and patient safety. Influencing factors were identified and then integrated into a model of voicing behaviour.ResultsIn total, 26 studies were identified in 27 articles. Some indicated that hesitancy to speak up can be an important contributing factor in communication errors and that training can improve speaking-up behaviour. Many influencing factors were found: (1) the motivation to speak up, such as the perceived risk for patients, and the ambiguity or clarity of the clinical situation; (2) contextual factors, such as hospital administrative support, interdisciplinary policy-making, team work and relationship between other team members, and attitude of leaders/superiors; (3) individual factors, such as job satisfaction, responsibility toward patients, responsibility as professionals, confidence based on experience, communication skills, and educational background; (4) the perceived efficacy of speaking up, such as lack of impact and personal control; (5) the perceived safety of speaking up, such as fear for the responses of others and conflict and concerns over appearing incompetent; and (6) tactics and targets, such as collecting facts, showing positive intent, and selecting the person who has spoken up.ConclusionsHesitancy to speak up can be an important contributing factor to communication errors. Our model helps us to understand how health care professionals think about voicing their concerns. Further research is required to investigate the relative importance of different factors.

Project description:IntroductionPatient-centered discharge care is critical to teach in clerkships: Studies have shown that patient-centered discharge care may reduce rehospitalization rates as well as ensure patient understanding after discharge. While these skills are necessary to be a successful intern, this is infrequently taught formally in clerkships. This session introduces medical students to challenges patients and providers face during care transitions, specifically, the transition after discharge from an inpatient hospital stay.MethodsThis workshop experience fosters the use of best communication-skills practices and team collaboration in discharge education and planning through reflective observation and role-play. Learners first identify common challenges faced when providing effective care transitions and then identify solutions to encourage patient-centered discharge care practices. Students also have the opportunity to be directly observed providing discharge care and to receive feedback using an observation tool. The materials associated with this publication include guidelines for workshop facilitators, blank video worksheet, completed video worksheet, teaching video, role-play exercise instructions and answer sheet for facilitators, direct observation tool, and workshop evaluation form.ResultsThe majority of students agreed the workshop would be helpful in practicing effective discharge education (69/75, 92%) and in providing patient-centered care during care transitions (72/75, 96%). Observers and students using the discharge education card reported an average score of 4.3 out of 5 that the observation was a helpful educational experience, and 84% of the completed discharge education tools included comments on areas of improvement or an action plan.DiscussionThe tool is brief and user friendly, allowing for this exercise to be completed without difficulty during busy ward days. It also can be completed by residents or attendings depending on time constraints.

Project description:ObjectiveThe International Learning Collaborative (ILC) is an organisation dedicated to understanding why fundamental care, the care required by all patients regardless of clinical condition, fails to be provided in healthcare systems globally. At its 11th annual meeting in 2019, nursing leaders from 11 countries, together with patient representatives, confirmed that patients' fundamental care needs are still being ignored and nurses are still afraid to 'speak up' when these care failures occur. While the ILC's efforts over the past decade have led to increased recognition of the importance of fundamental care, it is not enough. To generate practical, sustainable solutions, we need to substantially rethink fundamental care and its contribution to patient outcomes and experiences, staff well-being, safety and quality, and the economic viability of healthcare systems.Key argumentsWe present five propositions for radically transforming fundamental care delivery:Value: fundamental care must be foundational to all caring activities, systems and institutionsTalk: fundamental care must be explicitly articulated in all caring activities, systems and institutions.Do: fundamental care must be explicitly actioned and evaluated in all caring activities, systems and institutions.Own: fundamental care must be owned by each individual who delivers care, works in a system that is responsible for care or works in an institution whose mission is to deliver care.Researchfundamental care must undergo systematic and high-quality investigations to generate the evidence needed to inform care practices and shape health systems and education curricula.ConclusionFor radical transformation within health systems globally, we must move beyond nursing and ensure all members of the healthcare team-educators, students, consumers, clinicians, leaders, researchers, policy-makers and politicians-value, talk, do, own and research fundamental care. It is only through coordinated, collaborative effort that we will, and must, achieve real change.

Dataset Information

We want to know: patient comfort speaking up about breakdowns in care and patient experience.

Objective

Design

Setting

Participants

Main outcome measures

Results

Conclusions

Publications

We want to know: patient comfort speaking up about breakdowns in care and patient experience.

Similar Datasets

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