Making sense of the patient experience on general medical wards vers 1
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Making sense of the patient experience on general medical wards: a phenomenological study
IRAS ID
187927
Contact name
Christine Hallett
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Patient experience is a major focus for the NHS, based on current health policy, high profile failures and increased media scrutiny. This study aims to understand the nature of patient experience and patients’ expression of it, while critiquing the concept of patient satisfaction and the idea that we can capture it. The overall area to be investigated is patient experience on general medical wards, with the potential benefit of the study being an overall improvement in patient experience. A Literature Review found intrinsic factors affecting patient experience to include demographics, expectations and proclivity to complain along with extrinsic factors such as staffing levels and nursing care. Several topics were deemed to be worthy of further investigation, such as a potential link between illness narrative and inpatient experience. A lack of research into the effect of exposure to negative media coverage of the NHS on patient expectations and subsequent inpatient experience was identified. It was also felt that a qualitative exploration of the effect of nursing attitudes or behaviours on patient experience would be useful to elucidate those values which positively or negatively affect patient experience. A final topic felt to be worthy of investigation was patient experience of standardised NHS feedback mechanisms. After consideration of alternatives, phenomenology was determined to be the most appropriate methodology for the study. Participants will be recruited through advertisement over a six month period. Purposive sampling will enable data collection through in-depth interviews, with each participant being interviewed once for up to two hours. The approach to the analysis of interview data will be guided by the principles of Heideggerian hermeneutics. The study is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, UK.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/NW/0533
Date of REC Opinion
26 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion