Hi All
As promised, we have started our research project, and would like to hear from members of this community. If you are open to a telephone interview, you will be eligible for a $25 gift card in appreciation of your time.
Be part of a healthcare research project that aims to improve patient experience and reduce medical errors!
What's the issue?
Although much has been written and said on the importance of patient-centeredness in healthcare, there is insufficient material in the research on what medical care looks like from the patient perspective. Few performance measurements or quality & safety metrics are based on patient perspectives, and few monitor the patient’s journey through the end-to-end care process.
Why is this a problem?
This leads to metrics that overemphasize perspectives other than those of the patient or their caregivers, and under-emphasize the patient voice in documentation and monitoring of care value chains. As a result, healthcare is often not focused on patients, but on operational performance, revenue, or what clinicians think patients want - Care quality is lower, and medical errors are higher.
What we need is to understand how patients experience the care journey, and to identify the "voice of the patient" in the careflow.
What are we doing?
This mini research project seeks to understand key experiences of the patient's journey. The project will focus on the radiology care pathway, and the patient journey through the end-to-end experience, from initial encounter that decided on a radiological service, to the final discussion of findings, and billing for radiology services.
We are starting with the radiology journey because it is often the least understood from a patient's point of view, and is one of the areas where the clinicians are most open to change. Future mini-research projects will address other clinical specialties, but what we learn in this one will help in all areas.
One aspect the study will seek to illuminate is the opportunity to establish patient reported outcomes (PRO) measurements. PRO metrics will be a BIG DEAL in improving the care experience and reducing medical mistakes.
The team will interview patients or caregivers, and any results will be published in online. We will send the pdf to all donors who want it, and add their names to the acknowledgements.
The team will ask participants to reflect on their journey through the end-to-end process in radiology, and to describe the instances in which they experienced surprise, frustration, or confusion. Participants will also be asked what they felt worked well for them during their journey, and what didn’t work well.
At close of the project, any excess funds will be donated to the Blue Faery Liver Cancer Association
