What do patients and relatives know about problems and failures in care?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare quality and patient safety research
• Qualitative health services research

Background:

• Patients and family members often have valuable insights into healthcare problems and failures.
• Understanding patient and family knowledge is crucial for improving healthcare quality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the knowledge and experiences of patients and family members regarding healthcare problems and failures.
• To identify how patients and families engage with healthcare systems concerning incidents.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative, semistructured interviews were conducted with 39 patients and 80 family members.
• Participants shared their experiences of incidents in tertiary healthcare settings.
• Recruitment utilized diverse methods including media advertisements, health service collaboration, and consumer organizations.

Main Results:

• Patients and relatives demonstrated substantial knowledge of health service risks, problems, and incidents.
• Interviewees offered valuable insights into opportunities for care improvement.
• Challenges were identified in patients' and relatives' attempts to communicate their knowledge and insights to healthcare staff.

Conclusions:

• Patients and family members require structured processes for dialogue with healthcare personnel about perceived risks and incidents.
• Facilitating such dialogue ensures patient and family questions and knowledge about improvement opportunities are acknowledged and addressed.
• This dialogue can minimize the risk of patient and family insights being overlooked, thereby improving healthcare outcomes.