Analysis of the experienced-based design feedback data on a national scale
Introduction
The Health Foundation has noted a 46% increase in the number of hospital admissions for those aged over 65 between 2005 and 2016. Many will be admitted through accident and emergency (A&E) and remain on an acute medical unit during their stay. The Acute Frailty Network (AFN) has been working on improving the care of older and frail people in these acute sites. The AFN have advocated the use of experience-based design (EBD) to collect feedback from patients, which then helps to shape and transform services around the needs of the patient. Although individual hospitals monitor their own EBD data, they had not yet been analysed on a national level. The project's aim was to analyse the EBD data and determine general conclusions that future sites may wish to focus on when designing their services.
Methods
The EBD is a tool that looks at several aspects of an individual's experience through hospital, from admission to discharge. There are eight key points (Fig 1). Our project analysed over 600 respondents who used the feedback tool to look at common themes in their responses.
Results
Across all the domains, the most common words used by patients were confusion, worry and unhappiness. Thirty per cent of respondents reported confusion on being admitted and on first assessment, and 10% expressed being confused with the communication. Twenty-one per cent expressed worry on being admitted, 26% on their first assessment and 16% on being discharged from an acute medical ward.
Discussion
The statistics and associated comments highlight that communication remains an issue for patients, particularly on admission, assessment and at discharge. A follow-up discussion with a patient focus group echoed these conclusions. Acute care services will need to look at their models of communication and ways to improve these in order to improve the quality of care that the frail older population receive in their departments.
- © Royal College of Physicians 2019. All rights reserved.
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