Evaluation of a Patient Centred Care Approach in an Australian Hospital

Background: Patient-centered care has become an important indicator for excellence in healthcare. The involvement of the patient as an equal partner in the care process significantly contributes to high quality health care outcomes and ultimately leads to improvements in efficacy of medication management, adherence, and safety. Additionally, evidence suggest that pharmacists involvement in provision of patient centered care through shared decision making improve adherence and treatment satisfaction. The primary aim of this study is to assess whether the provision of a patient centered care approach through shared decision-making improves inpatients overall satisfaction with their care. The secondary aim evaluates the pharmacist impact on the patients overall satisfaction.

Method: A prospective study was conducted over 2 stages. Stage one involved evaluation of baseline patient satisfaction and experience with their hospital stay. Stage two involved assessing the impact of decision aids provided by pharmacists on patients’ satisfaction.

Results: Provision of patient centered care increased patients ’ overall satisfaction from 52.5% to 79.8%, p=0.0003. Additionally, patients who have had a pharmacist input during their hospital stay were more likely to report a positive experience as shown in both study groups (study group 1, OR=5.821, 95% CI (1.757-19.290); study 2, OR=2.734; 95% CI (0.802-9.316) P=0.108.

Conclusion: This study has highlighted that pharmacists input as well as provision of shared decision making materials promotes the delivery of a patient centered care approach resulting in patients overall satisfaction.

Author(s): Viviane Khalil, Daniel Almer and Birgit Reisenhofer

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