Involvement un-enabled? An ethnographic study of the challenges and potentials of involving relatives in the acute ambulatory clinical pathway.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Involving a patient's relatives is a complex endeavour, especially in emergency departments (EDs). Generally, relatives are recognized as vital partners in health care, but in-depth knowledge on how these family involvement processes take place in the everyday practices of EDs is sparse. The aim of this study is to explore the practice of involving relatives in the acute ambulatory clinical pathway in the ED, as seen from the perspectives of patients and relatives.

Methods

The study was conducted as ethnographic fieldwork in an ED at a Danish Regional Hospital. Two months of participant-observation were carried out focusing on 43 patients. Of these, 18 patients and/or relatives were selected for telephone interviews after 1 week, and of these 11 were selected for

SUBMITTER: Sagoo SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7690026 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature