The aspects of healthcare quality that are important to health professionals and patients: A qualitative study (18 October 2021)

Summary

This qualitative study in Patient Education and Counseling collected narrative accounts from doctors, nurses and patients to determine whether their perspectives can add new content to quality of care frameworks. The three groups raised the following 'quality of care' aspects:

• Successful communication among staff, with patients and care companions
• Staff motivation
• Frequency of knowledge errors
• Prioritisation of patient-preferred outcomes
• Institutional emphasis on building “quality cultures”
• Organisational implementation of fluid system procedures

The study found that respondents primarily referred to care processes, rather than structure or outcomes, in their descriptions of 'quality of care'. 'Hippocratic pride' (in response to care successes) and 'rapid reactivity' (in response to (near) failures) emerged as two new outcome indicators of high-quality care.