Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Navigating Emergency Care: Understanding Older Adults' Experiences At The Kingston Health Sciences Centre, Nilany Thanabalasinham, Susan A. Bartels, Melanie Walker

Patient Experience Journal

Objectives: Older adults (65+) in Ontario have the highest emergency department (ED) visit rates, yet often face delayed care and unmet healthcare needs. This study investigates how older adults perceive and navigate their ED care experiences at the Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC), compared to younger adults and identifies factors driving their positive and negative care experiences. Methods: A secondary mixed-methods analysis was conducted using cross-sectional data on ED care experiences at the KHSC. Qualitative data included anonymously recorded micronarratives describing participants' ED experiences. Quantitative data included patients' numerical interpretations of their shared experiences through sensemaking triad questions. Quantitative descriptive …

Partnering With Patients: Perspectives Of Doctors, Nurses, And Managers Regarding Patient Participation And Feedback In Hospital Settings In Jamaica, Camelia Thompson, Desmalee Holder Nevins, Dawn Walters, Cameal Chin-Bailey, Elon Thompson, Minerva Thame, Kenneth James

Patient Experience Journal

This study assesses the perspective of doctors and nurses regarding participation of patients in care delivery and explores perspectives of managers on patient feedback mechanisms in two Jamaican hospitals. A mixed-methods convergent parallel design study was employed. The quantitative component involved a cross-sectional survey of 328 doctors and nurses, selected through stratified random sampling, using a self-administered questionnaire assessing patient participation. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 17 senior managers, which were analyzed thematically. Quantitative and qualitative findings were integrated during interpretation. The majority of respondents (90.8%) reported that they very often or always respected and encouraged patient …

Understanding Patient And Family Experience In Pediatric Hemato-Oncology: A Cross-Sectional Study From Morocco, Boujemaa El Marnissi, Sanae Bouramdane, Moussa Benboubker, Fouad Abbas, Salma Chahid, Jalal Dahmani, Khalid Moubtahij, Kenza Elmkadem, Sarra Benmiloud

Patient Experience Journal

Background. Patient- and family-reported experience is a vital indicator of healthcare quality, particularly in pediatric hematology-oncology. This study assessed patient- and family-reported experience and identified its sociodemographic, clinical, and organizational determinants in a newly established pediatric hemato-oncology department of a tertiary university hospital in Morocco. Methods. A cross-sectional survey was conducted between November 2023 and January 2024. Experience was assessed using a validated multidimensional questionnaire covering reception and access, information and communication, human and relational aspects of care, therapeutic management and pain control, accommodation conditions, and logistical and administrative processes. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were collected; bivariate analyses and multivariate …

Challenges Of Family Members Of Admitted Patients In Relationship With Medical Staff In Kurdistan Region: Cross-Sectional Study, Khalid Khudhur Faris, Zuhair Rushdi Mustafa, Hadi Haji Hussain, Ibrahim Baker Khudida, Deldar Morad Abdulah

Patient Experience Journal

Families often play a significant role in advocating for and supporting their patients during illness or hospitalization. Understanding the challenges between family members of patients and medical staff is crucial for improving communication, patient care, and the overall healthcare experience. This study aimed to investigate and understand the challenges and difficulties experienced by family members when dealing with the medical staff. This cross-sectional study conducted at a local teaching hospital in Kurdistan Region. A total of 400 family members of admitted patients from various medical departments were included in this study. Companions reported generally positive interactions with healthcare providers (HCPs). …

Parallel Realities: A Narrative Review Of Differences Between Patients And Their Care Providers, Umair Majid, Hazeema Haq, Ziyad Yahmad

Patient Experience Journal

Differences in how patients and healthcare providers perceive, experience, and deliver care can undermine patient-centered care and health outcomes. Yet, few syntheses have examined these divergences as a primary focus. This narrative review aimed to identify and synthesize evidence on the differences between patients and their providers in terms of priorities, expectations, and experiences of care, and to explore how these differences can potentially influence relationships and outcomes. A database search was conducted to identify English-language studies published from January 2019 to January 2025 that included both patients and providers in the same sample and compared their perspectives. Data from …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Familial Caregivers To Individuals With Prader-Willi Syndrome: The Impact Of Caregiver Burden, Louisa Williams, Eden Morley

Patient Experience Journal

Caregiver burden (CB) is an under-researched topic among familial caregivers (parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents) supporting someone with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS). CB is defined as the physical and mental toll resulting from caring for someone with additional needs, which has not yet been explored in PWS familial caregivers. PWS causes hyperphagia (insatiable hunger) and violent behaviours that can be hard to manage. Research demonstrates primary caregivers have a decreased quality of life and increased mental health (MH) problems, with quantitative literature highlighting the risk of CB. This study aimed to qualitatively highlight the experiences of CB in familial caregivers …

Information Continuity And Experiences Of Mental Healthcare: A Conceptual Framework, Timothy Kariotis, Megan Prictor, Kathleen Gray, Shanton Chang

Patient Experience Journal

Objectives: Information continuity is a key element of continuity of care and service users' experience of care. However, models of continuity of care have not considered how to operationalise information continuity and balance it with service users' privacy concerns. The aim of this paper was to develop a conceptual framework of the information practices that contribute to service users' experience of information continuity in the mental healthcare system. Methods: We undertook a narrative review to identify studies on service users' experiences of mental healthcare and analysed them using a thematic synthesis method to identify the information practices of care professionals …

Health Information For Patients And Families: Sources, Data Types, And Tools For Evaluating Accessibility, Preeti Pandey, Richard I. Zraick, Vinaya Manchaiah

Patient Experience Journal

This review summarizes key sources and formats of health information for patients and families, and outlines tools used to evaluate their accessibility. Health information appears across online and offline platforms in formats such as text, images, and video. Evaluation tools assess dimensions like readability, accuracy, quality, suitability, and actionability, though they vary in validity and scope. This paper offers guidance for healthcare professionals and researchers aiming to improve the accessibility and effectiveness of patient-facing health materials.

When Decision-Making Styles Do Not Predict Communication Preferences: Rethinking Personalization In Healthcare Experience, Victoria Sze Min Ekstrom

Patient Experience Journal

Background: Healthcare systems increasingly attempt to personalize risk communication by matching messages to patients' decision-making styles. This approach is resource intensive, yet evidence that it improves patient experience or decision quality remains limited. Methods: We conducted a cross-cultural experimental study with adults from the UK (n=330, recruited via Prolific) and Singapore (n=220, recruited via professional networks). Participants viewed three healthcare scenarios with risks of 1%, 10%, and 20%, presented in either positive (``99% no complications'') or negative (``1% complications'') frames displayed side-by-side in randomized order. Decision-making styles were assessed using the Control Preferences Scale, categorizing participants as information-seeking, shared decision-making, …

Reflections On Factors That Led To A Dehydration Hospitalization: Lived Experience To Inform Systems Change For Nursing Home Residents, Lucas Kandia, Jodi Dunmeyer Stookey

Patient Experience Journal

This personal narrative describes a family's journey through a preventable dehydration crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic. When a 93-year-old nursing home resident tested positive for COVID-19, her family prepared for the worst. Instead, she nearly died from severe dehydration, not the virus, and was hospitalized for hypovolemic shock, only to be discharged four and a half days later, still COVID-positive, having recovered with rehydration alone. Medical documentation reveals deterioration from inadequate oral intake (300 mL per day) to pre-shock hypotension to frank shock (72/56 mmHg at 17:20), while oxygen saturation remained normal throughout. The admission diagnosis hierarchy (Acute Kidney Injury, …

15 October 2021: Living With The Consequences Of A Cardiac Event — A Patient Perspective, Bruce H. Knox

Patient Experience Journal

This first-person narrative explores the long-term consequences of a rare but catastrophic complication during a premature ventricular contraction (PVC) ablation, resulting in left ventricular rupture, acute cardiac tamponade, and emergency open-heart surgery. While the surgical intervention was life-saving, the subsequent years were marked by profound changes in autonomic function, multisystem instability, and a sustained alteration in quality of life. The account reflects on living with cardiac autonomic vulnerability before the event, the immediate crisis, and the prolonged recovery that followed—characterized not by restoration, but by renegotiation of capacity, identity, and participation. Particular emphasis is placed on the experience of navigating …

The Phantom Fifth Chair Of Patient Experience, Kathy Saldana

Patient Experience Journal

Over the past three years, the author has openly shared her journey as a certified patient experience professional facing triple negative breast cancer. The firsthand gravity of treatment became instantly apparent to her in the chemo chair. Resisting the temptation to crumble under the fear of it, she chose to view treatment as an unwanted yet precious opportunity to study her profession of patient experience from a deeply personal space. Determined not to waste the difficult long-term experience of treatment, she was compelled to write and speak about her convictions regarding the necessity of honoring patients by soliciting, documenting, believing, …

More Than A Buzzword: Why Trauma-Informed Care Needs Widespread Practice, Christine Lee Frost

Patient Experience Journal

This narrative illustrates the personal story about the difficulty of obtaining a diagnosis for endometriosis. As someone who endured a chaotic childhood, I struggled with complex trauma and medical issues for decades without understanding the connection between the two. In this narrative, I make a case for practicing trauma-informed care across the healthcare industry, and detail the statistics that show why it's so vital. While online communities can make ``trauma-informed care'' feel like just another trendy term, it's a concept with an abundance of data to back up the necessity for it. In addition to people living with mental illness, …

Consumer, Customer, Or Patient?... It's All About Context, Sven Gierlinger

Patient Experience Journal

Today's healthcare industry is at a pivotal juncture, navigating the complex intersection of traditional care delivery with rapidly evolving consumer expectations and unprecedented transparency. This personal narrative is intended to provide a nuanced, experience-driven framework for understanding the distinct yet interconnected roles of ``consumer,'' ``customer,'' and ``patient'' - vital for healthcare organizations striving to build trust and loyalty.

Human-Centered Quality: Reframing Quality Around What Matters To People, Vita Steina, Jason Wolf

Patient Experience Journal

Each encounter one has in healthcare is an experience. It is everything someone lives through. It is what they remember and all they perceive. It is their lasting story. When we see the experience one has in healthcare from that lens, then all the components that shape that story are parts of their experience. From this perspective, for as much as the clinical framing of experience as metrics on a survey has seen experience identified as a dimension of quality, we would suggest the opposite. Quality is but one part of the experience someone has in healthcare today. It is …

Affordability: A Critical Issue At The Heart Of Human Experience, Jason A. Wolf

Patient Experience Journal

Affordability is a human experience issue. One that reaches well beyond the edges of healthcare. In our current global economy, rising costs dominate the headlines. They weigh heavily on the pocketbooks of families around the world. Affordability may be no more prevalent than in healthcare. It too is the place where it may have the most significant and lasting impact.If we are willing to think of affordability as an experience issue, we can begin to address the solution in new ways. But it will require untangling years of wiring of how healthcare has operated to rewire what it can be. …

Bilingualism In The Rio Grande Valley: Documentary Interview With Dr. Nelson Mata, Aidan Mata

Bilingualism in Higher Ed Summit

Dr. Nelson Mata is a physician who has conducted his practice of internal medicine for 32 years in the Rio Grande Valley. Originally living in Dominican Republic where he studied medicine, he went to fulfill his residency program in New York. This multicultural background has enabled him to speak both English and Spanish. As such, he began his practice here in the Rio Grande Valley where doctors who could speak Spanish were needed. He saw it as an opportunity to lend aid to the local Hispanic community with his bilingual communication skills. Through connecting with each patient by understanding, forming …

Project Inspire, Daphney R. Portis

Inspire Brochures

Project Inspire is USA Health’s semester-long injury prevention program that offers education, exposure and mentorship to justice-involved youth. Since 2017, this collaboration between USA Health and James T. Strickland Youth Center has engaged justice-involved teens with the five-pillar curriculum, which includes: traumainformed care training and confidence building, educational and professional development, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and intensive mentorship. The goal is to reduce the rates of violence by equipping and empowering youth to overcome obstacles and barriers they may face in order to build a brighter future. There are currently three sites with more opening across several states.

Trauma Informed Care Approach To Family Violence : Preliminary Insights Of A Pilot Youth Justice Violence Prevention Program, Antonette Francis-Sheaerer Phd, Amber Singleton, Denise Shaw, Kierra Echols, L. Lynette Parker, Caroline O. Dodson, Ashley Y. Williams Md

Community Health Workers Posters

Background: Modern juvenile justice research increasingly identifies family violence as a primary driver of youth legal and social transgressions. To address this, the Strickland Youth Detention Center, in partnership with the USA Health Center for Healthy Communities, launched the Building Safer Communities Collaborative (BSCC)in Mobile, Alabama, in September 2025. This pilot program employs a public health, trauma-informed prevention model to intervene before youth face serious tenure within the justice system.

Methods: The BSCC utilizes a Community Health Worker (CHW) model focusing on 37 youth currently on informal probation. Over a six-month period, the program facilitates twice-monthly encounters with youth and …

Age- And Period-Stratified Associations Between Ambient Fungal Spore Exposure And Asthma Healthcare Utilization In The San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico, 2018–2021, Benjamín Bolaños-Rosero, Claudia I. Pereira Moreira, Catalina S. Robles-Rivera, Félix E. Rivera-Mariani

College of Arts and Sciences Faculty Publications & Presentations

Puerto Ricans experience among the highest asthma morbidity in the United States, and ambient fungal spores are abundant tropical aeroallergens. This ecological time-series study asked whether associations between ambient fungal spores and recorded asthma healthcare utilization in the San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico (2018–2021), were stable across two contextual eras (post-Hurricane María recovery, 2018–2019; the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020–2021) and across age groups. Daily Burkard spore counts were linked to 168,578 asthma encounters. Encounter volume (negative binomial rate ratios, RR) and the ED/inpatient encounter fraction (logistic odds ratios, OR) were modeled per 10,000 spores·m−3 using weekly means and 3- and …

Analysis Of The Dental Emergency Visits At Fqhcs In Michigan And Recommendations For Change, Xuesi Hua, Martha Mccomas, Elizabeth Hatfield

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This mixed-methods study evaluates emergency dental operations across Michigan's Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Utilizing clinician interviews, surveys, and state usage data, the authors examine care delivery models, identify clinician and patient barriers to access, and analyze reasons why patients utilize hospital emergency departments rather than community health centers. System-level recommendations are proposed to optimize emergency triage, expand capacity, and improve outcomes for underserved populations.

Inequities In Agency And Post-Surrogacy Impact On Surrogate Mothers In India, Sheela Suryanarayanan Dr., Sudarshan Saravanan Mr.

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

India became a global hub for commercial surrogacy because surrogate mothers had fewer rights over their own bodies and the child born, and had no agency in medical interventions during surrogacy, until the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 prohibited transnational and commercial surrogacy in India. Studies have found detrimental physical and emotional health impacts of surrogacy on surrogate mothers in several developing countries. Economic coercion limits the agency and bargaining capacity of surrogate mothers, leading to unjust surrogacy contracts. Mandatory retention at surrogate homes, separation from family, surveillance, social stigma, secrecy, and a disconnect from the intended parents and surrogacy children …

Pendampingan Keluarga Binaan Untuk Pencegahan Penularan Varisela Melalui Edukasi Daring Dan Kunjungan Rumah Di Wilayah Kerja Puskesmas Pengasinan, Depok, Royal Em Silaban, Estri Efani, Asyraf R. Jatnika, Rafif Esa Pradipta, Ilfa Maharani, Ima Maria, Agneta Irmarahayu

Bhakti: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat

Varicella is a highly contagious childhood infection that can spread rapidly in schools and households because infectiousness begins before rash onset and continues until lesions crust. A school-associated varicella event occurred at SD Islam Asshafa, Depok, during January–February 2026. This community service program, conducted in collaboration with Pengasinan Primary Health Center, aimed to standardize caregiver actions for household prevention and early response using a blended approach combining online education and targeted home mentoring. Activities included rapid situation assessment and coordination with the school, home visits to three purposively selected families for household risk appraisal and baseline knowledge–attitude–practice (KAP) assessment, a …

Penyuluhan Kesehatan Dan Pemeriksaan Pap Smear Sebagai Upaya Deteksi Dini Kanker Serviks Pada Perempuan Di Puskesmas Karang Kitri, Bekasi, Riesye Arisanty, Maria Angela Putri Maharani, Amelia Fosseta Manatar, Lisnawati -, Ria Kodariah, Supri Irianti Handayani, Endah Zuraidah, Hemalia -

Bhakti: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat

Cervical cancer remains a major public health problem in Indonesia, although it is largely preventable through HPV vaccination and early detection. This community service activity aimed to improve women's awareness of cervical and breast cancer prevention and to provide cervical cytology screening at Puskesmas Karang Kitri, Bekasi. The program was conducted on September 10, 2025 by the Anatomical Pathology Study Program, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Indonesia/Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in collaboration with Puskesmas Karang Kitri. Activities included participant registration, health education using slide presentation and leaflet, interactive discussion, Pap smear specimen collection, laboratory cytology examination, and result counselling. Sixty women …

Trust As Public Health Infrastructure: Advancing Health Care Safety Through Risk Communication And Community Engagement, Karanvir Bhinder, Sahibpreet Bhinder

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

Preparedness frameworks traditionally emphasize surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical care and logistics. However, recent public health emergencies have demonstrated that even technically sound interventions may fail when trust is weak, communication is fragmented or misinformation undermines public confidence. Risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) is therefore increasingly recognized as an important component of effective outbreak response.

Perspective

Evidence from COVID-19, Ebola and other public health emergencies demonstrates that trust, communication and community engagement influence adherence to public health guidance, vaccine acceptance, healthcare utilization and the implementation of evidence-based interventions. Despite this, RCCE is frequently operationalized as a support function rather …

Advanced Practice Provider-Physician Collaboration And Medical Staff Governance: A Framework For Patient Safety, Nicholas Testa, Kaysha Hervey, Cynthia Borum

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The growth of advanced practice providers (APPs) is occurring in parallel with persistent and projected physician shortages. One important solution and increasingly visible response to these workforce challenges is the expanding role of APPs. Strong physician-APP partnerships can help distribute workload, improve access, and support sustainable practice with the delivery of safe, quality patient care. The future of clinical care will depend on effective APP-physician collaboration grounded in sound credentialing, clearly defined supervision and practice expectations, and robust medical staff monitoring programs. We describe the governance and oversight processes in a large health care system to assess and support APP …

A Conceptual Framework For Clinical Quality Oversight In Telehealth-Enabled Home-Based Urgent Care, Taylor Spencer, Jason P. Williams

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

Home-based urgent care serving frail older adults should aspire to high-quality clinical care with optimal patient outcomes. However, monitoring and ensuring this quality can be challenging. For example, telemedicine and value-based frameworks introduce substantial complexity to clinical quality monitoring.

Purpose

We describe the conceptual framework for a multidimensional quality monitoring program within a national home-based urgent care model.

Framework Description

Medical care was delivered via a multi-state home-based primary, palliative, and urgent care practice serving medically complex Medicare Advantage (MA) populations. Our model of care incorporated distributed clinical and operational teams delivering 24/7 care via telephonic triage, video-enabled encounters, …

Bathrooms As A Patient Safety Blind Spot In Emergency Departments: A Narrative Review And Nursing Practice Framework, Carmelo Villani

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Background

Emergency department (ED) bathrooms preserve privacy and dignity but interrupt direct observation. Risks described across clinical publications and professional guidance include falls, unrecognized deterioration, overdose, hazardous ingestion, infection, inaccessible environments, and unmet elimination needs. This review integrated those risks and translated them into a nursing practice framework.

Methods

For the structured narrative review, PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, and Scopus were searched on July 30, 2026, without date, language, age, or publication-type filters. Backward and forward citation chasing and a targeted search for professional documents supplemented database searching. Publications were categorized by ED relevance and synthesized thematically. Professional guidance was analyzed …

Pharmacovigilance As An Act Of Awareness And Mindfulness, Mahima Silas, Hale Z. Toklu

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

The term “pharmacovigilance” defines the activities related to the collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention of adverse reactions due to pharmaceuticals. While it is often framed as a technical and regulatory discipline, it can also be understood through a more reflective lens as a form of mindfulness practice. At its core, pharmacovigilance requires a way of thinking that closely mirrors mindfulness, including sustained attention, openness to uncertainty, and deep awareness of human experience. Viewing pharmacovigilance in this way reframes it not just as a safety mechanism, but as a thoughtful, patient-centered approach to medicine.

The Effects Of Pediatric Asthma On Daily Activities And Family Life In Cache Valley, Utah: Exploring Parental Perceptions Of Air Quality, Saeed Ahmad, Mehmet Soyer, Landon Lloyd, Mayu Mecham

Transforming Communities

Asthma is one of the main chronic health conditions affecting children living in Cache Valley, Utah particularly due to poor air quality during the winter season. It is very important to understand how families manage asthma both within and outside the household. Therefore, this research brief highlights how parents are managing pediatric asthma, and how asthma influences daily activities and family life. It is based on a qualitative study that extracted the data from 20 in-depth interviews with parents of asthmatic children. Participants were recruited through purposive snowball sampling. Data were collected through an interview guide that included some basic …