Health Communication Commons^™

The Legitimacy Of The Patient Story: The Unofficial Autoethnography, Kathy Saldana

Patient Experience Journal

While communication is the foundation of patient experience, survey data and comments are the primary source of results. The focus on data, though meaningful, reduces humans to text on reports. With a focus of autoethnography in both her baccalaureate and post-graduate studies, the author, (a fulltime patient experience professional) shares her professional focus on the value of the data and comments, esteeming it all as valuable research given by the only people who can report patient experience – patients. She compares her stance regarding patient experience before and after receiving a diagnosis of breast cancer. The author shares how the …

The Patient Experience Of Language Discordance And Interpreter Services In The Emergency Department, Keri L. Baker

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Clear communication is critical to the interaction of a patient and medical provider. For non-English speaking patients, language discordance, described as the lack of proficiency in a shared language, with the medical team results in a poor patient experience and poor patient outcomes. The predominant solution to language discordance is the use of interpreter services, however these services are underused in the emergency department (ED). Studies examining underuse of interpreter services have primarily focused on the clinician and little is known about the patient’s influence on the use of interpreter services.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 Spanish-speaking …

Breaking The Transactional Mindset: A New Path For Healthcare Leadership Built On A Commitment To Human Experience, Kirsten Krull, Jerry Mansfield, Jennifer Gentry, Karen Grimley, Barbara Jacobs, Jason Wolf

Patient Experience Journal

Numerous health care publications have focused on the compelling need to improve patient experience and the associated improvements necessary to address workforce well-being. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated and illuminated long-standing problems in health care including workforce shortages, inequity in health care delivery outcomes, care provider burnout, and overall societal structural racism.^1,2 The Beryl Institute’s Nursing Executive Council (NEC) manuscript Rebuilding a Foundation of Trust: A Call to Action in Creating a Safe Environment for Everyone³ focused on actions and behaviours to heal relationships and build trust between care providers and leaders with commitments to safety, empathy, shared decision …

Patient Experiences Through Head And Neck Cancer: Information Delivery Combatting Psychological Distress, Eleah Stringer Msc., Julian J. Lum Phd., Jonathan Livergant Dr., Andre Kushniruk Phd.

Patient Experience Journal

As part of a larger study investigating the utility of electronic decision support tools for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), this article describes the patient experience of receiving cancer treatment in British Columbia, Canada. It aims to give voice to the patient experience and recommend a model of psychological adjustment for clinicians and clinical service management to consider to refine patient centric care pathways for HNC. Based in phenomenology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 survivors of HNC, audio-video recorded, and thematically analyzed. Three themes were identified: (1) patients have high, though varying information needs; (2) an emotional …

Listening As Medicine: A Thematic Analysis, Rachel Kishton M.D., Heta Patel, Divya Saini, Jeffrey Millstein M.D., Aaron Levy Ph.D.

Patient Experience Journal

Realizations of the importance of “the art of medicine” in trust-building and patient satisfaction have resulted in the incorporation of narrative medicine programs into training curricula. By learning how to respond to patient stories as well as communicate their own, healthcare providers can ensure that their patients feel heard and respected. This study seeks to define what constitutes empathetic listening through a qualitative analysis of personal narratives collected from patients, caregivers, and providers across an urban academic healthcare system. Stories (n=41) underwent thematic analysis to note common experiences related to listening during a health system encounter. Eighteen grounded codes were …

Mystay – Development Of Nurse-Facilitated Condition-Specific Multimedia Resources To Facilitate Patient Participation In Postoperative Care, Jo Mcdonall, Anastasia F. Hutchinson, Natalie Heynesbergh, Bernice Redley, Richard De Steiger, Damien Khaw, Mari Botti

Patient Experience Journal

Improved postoperative outcomes and the global drive toward the provision of patient-centred care underpins efforts to enhance the nature and capacity of patient participation in acute postoperative hospital care. In this paper, we describe the design, framework and processes used to develop a modular, procedure-specific, digital health intervention platform aimed at improving the patient experience and patient participation in care following surgery. The intervention, a multimedia application MyStay, uses bedside delivery of audio-visual and text-based information to engage postoperative patients to better participate in their care. MyStay modules are developed using an iterative, multi-method approach intended to balance procedure-specific best …

Global Child And Family-Centered Care Fellowship, Education And Mentorship For Pediatric Healthcare Professionals: A Literature Review, Ashley Zheng, Bobbijo Pansier

Patient Experience Journal

Child- and family-centered care (FCC) is increasingly accepted and implemented to optimize the healthcare experience for patients, their families, and healthcare professionals. Standish Foundation for Children, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, has designed and piloted a fellowship to educate pediatric healthcare professionals in FCC & psychosocial care via an inquiry and mentorship model in Tbilisis, Georgia. This review aimed to evaluate and synthesize existing literature on psychosocial and FCC mentorship for pediatric healthcare professionals in four parts: ongoing need, effects on healthcare professionals, effects on children and their families and/or caregivers, and in cross-country healthcare settings. Reviewers searched open-source databases for articles …

Beyond Service Education: Impacting The Human Experience With Sustained Training Utilizing The Experience Model Of Communication, Jennifer S. Packard, Rebecca A. Brustad, Jane M. Hoplin, Sheila K. Stevens

Patient Experience Journal

Patients scheduling or checking in for medical appointments often share with frontline employees’ details of their stories, including their worries, prior negative experiences, and hopes. These interactions require employees to not only complete their task, but also to be mindfully present, picking up on important social cues and showing appropriate emotional congruence and empathic understanding. Based on a review of recorded patient calls, a gap was identified in the communication skills of desk and scheduling staff at this large academic medical center, and a sustained training program was created to fill this gap. The training is centered on an evolving …

Patient And Family Engagement: Bridging Together Interprofessional Practice And Patient- And Family-Centred Care, Yuchen Gao, Sylvia Abonyi, Pamela Downe, Krista Baerg, Heather A. Ward

Patient Experience Journal

Patient and family engagement as part of the health care team is increasingly recommended to meet the objective of providing safer and more coordinated care, as well as enhancing patient satisfaction. This project explores both health care professionals’ and patients and families’ experiences with patient- and family-centred care (PFCC) and interprofessional practice (IPP). Data were collected through individual interviews with 29 health care professionals and 17 patients and families on medicine and pediatrics at a tertiary care teaching hospital. Inductive coding and thematic analysis outcomes are presented using qualitative description. We used communicative action theory to interpret the gap that …

No Visitors Allowed: How Health Systems Can Better Engage Patients’ Families During A Pandemic, Jennifer Schlimgen, Amy Frye

Patient Experience Journal

The ravages of COVID -19 and the no visitor policies that accompany it have forged a tectonic shift in the patient and family experience. This hit home for me with a recent family member health event and hospitalization, leading me to think “we HAVE to do better!” Why should hospitals and health systems care about family involvement during COVID-19?

Experience Framework

This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework (https://www.theberylinstitute.org/ExperienceFramework).

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Perceptions Of Care & Patient-Provider Communication By Varying Identity Groups In A Collegiate Health Clinic, Yewande O. Addie, Tatiana Maser, Cecilia Luna, Casey Rayfield, Kelli R. Agrawal

Patient Experience Journal

LGBTQ patients experience discrimination and poor access to quality health care, but there is little inquiry on the experiences of LGBTQ patients in student health clinic. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of patient-provider communication (PPC) among sexual and gender minority patients, especially those who have intersecting minority identities, in a student healthcare setting. An online survey measured PPC using the Communication Assessment Tool (CAT) and contextual questions regarding identity and perceptions of judgment. Analysis tested intersectional variance in both. A convenience and snowball sample of 102 respondents, 18+, that utilized health services at a public …

Beneath The Surface Of Talking About Physicians: A Statistical Model Of Language For Patient Experience Comments, Taylor Turpen, Lea Matthews Md, Senem Guney Phd, Cpxp

Patient Experience Journal

This study applies natural language processing (NLP) techniques to patient experience comments. Our goal was to examine the language describing care experiences with two groups of physicians: those with scores in the top 100 and those with scores in the bottom 100 among all physicians (n=498) who received scores from patient satisfaction surveys. Our analysis showed a statistically significant difference in the language used to describe care experiences with these two distinct groups of physicians. This analysis illustrates how to apply NLP techniques in categorizing and building a statistical model for language use in order to identify meaningful language and …

Can Doctors Improve The Patient Experience By Rearranging The Furniture And Equipment In Their Office? A Video Recorded Simulation, Moyez Jiwa, Catherine Krejany, Lee Gaedtke, Epi Kanjo, Ruthra Nagendran, Carolyn O'Shea, Iain Greenlees

Patient Experience Journal

The design of this study is a video-recorded simulated consultation. Its aim is to evaluate the effect of changing seating arrangements and stethoscope visibility on patient enablement and non-verbal behaviour. Twelve simulated consultations with six actor-patients and a ‘real’ doctor were video recorded. Either the ‘real’ doctor or actor-patient, blind to the hypothesis sat in large executive office chair during the consult. The patient entered the room afresh for each consult. Consultation quality and outcomes were independently evaluated on three measures: The Patient Enablement Index (PEI), the Leicester Assessment Package (LAP); Non-Verbal Communication (NVC). Both expert reviewers were also blind …

Wait Time Reality Check: The Convergence Of Process, Perception, And Expectation, Marian Hill, Lorianne Classen, Andrea Romay, Erika Diaz

Patient Experience Journal

There are few experiences as ubiquitous to patients as the experience of waiting. It is an occurrence that transcends diagnosis, is common to all demographics, and is shared across the continuum of care. The experience can be frustrating and full of ambiguity for patients and their families. Wait time and delays can lead to patients sensing a loss of control and magnify the feelings of anxiety they may already be suffering. In an effort to improve patient experience, a framework was developed to examine patient satisfaction as a function of expectations, perceptions, and reality. The process domain focused on the …

Creating A Common Trajectory: Shared Decision Making And Distributed Cognition In Medical Consultations, Katherine D. Lippa, Valerie L. Shalin

Patient Experience Journal

The growing literature on shared decision making and patient centered care emphasizes the patient’s role in clinical care, but research on clinical reasoning almost exclusively addresses physician cognition. In this article, we suggest clinical cognition is distributed between physicians and patients and assess how distributed clinical cognition functions during interactions between medical professionals and patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). A combination of cognitive task analysis and discourse analysis reveals the distribution of clinical reasoning between 24 patients and 3 medical professionals engaged in MS management. Findings suggest that cognition was distributed between patients and physicians in all major tasks except …

The Evaluation Of An Information Booklet In The Use Of Effective Patient Communication In The Setting Of Thoracic Anesthesia, Camille Guillot Miss, Gerry Keenan Dr

Patient Experience Journal

Effective communication is crucial in assuring a good patient experience during an in-hospital stay. In some settings, such as thoracic anaesthesia, patients are given a heavy load of new complex information, in a very limited space of time. Written information, such as patient information booklets, could help as an aid memoir and improve patient’s subjective understanding and preparedness for procedures. This study aims to produce a booklet, specifically targeted at thoracic anaesthesia, and to evaluate it using a linguistics framework in relation to the patient experience and clinical communication. For the study, a booklet was produced in the context of …

Young Adult Perspectives On The Selection Of Pharmaceuticals For Mental Health Treatment, Alaina N. Talboy, Angela M. Aylward, Daniel Lende, Rodney P. Guttmann

Patient Experience Journal

Shared decision making places an emphasis on patient understanding and engagement. However, when it comes to treatment selection, research tends to focus on how doctors select pharmaceutical treatments. The current study is a qualitative assessment of how patients choose among three common treatments that have varying degrees of scientific support and side effects. We used qualitative data from 157 undergraduates (44 males, 113 females; mean age = 21.89 years) that was collected as part of a larger correlational study of depression and critical thinking skills. Qualitative analysis revealed three major themes: shared versus independent decision making, confidence in the research …

Should I Stay Or Should I Go? Patient Understandings Of And Responses To Source-Isolation Practices, Mary Wyer, Rick Iedema, Christine Jorm, Gary Armstrong, Su-Yin Hor, Claire Hooker, Debra Jackson, Clarissa Hughes, Matthew V.N. O'Sullivan, Gwendolyn L. Gilbert

Patient Experience Journal

Isolation of patients, who are colonised or infected with a multidrug-resistant organism (source-isolation), is a common practice in most acute health-care settings, to prevent transmission to other patients. Efforts to improve the efficacy of source-isolation in hospitals focus on healthcare staff compliance with isolation precautions. In this article we examine patients’ awareness, understandings and observance of source-isolation practices and directives with a view to understanding better the roles patients play or could play in transmitting, or limiting transmission, of multidrug-resistant organisms (MRO). Seventeen source-isolated adult surgical patients and two relatives participated in video-reflexive ethnography and interviews. We learned that, although …