A qualitative study exploring patient shadowing as a method to improve patient-centred care: 10 principles for a new...

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on patient experience as a dimension of quality in healthcare and subsequently a drive to understand care from the patient's perspective. Patient shadowing is an approach that has been used in service improvement projects, but its potential as a quality improvement (QI) method has not been studied in practical and replicable detail.

This new research aimed to produce clear guidance on patient shadowing for future Quality Improvement projects.

Qualitative interviews were conducted with 20 clinical and non-clinical participants of a national QI programme in UK, which focused on improving the experience of patients at the end of life. All participants had shadowed patients. Data were analysed using a thematic analysis.

There were two broad themes: (i) The process of shadowing: how participants went about shadowing, adopting different approaches and making judgements about the care they observed and any challenges they had encountered. (ii) The impact of shadowing: on the engagement and motivation of those who shadowed and in terms of service changes to benefit patients and their families.

The findings led to a new set of 'gold standard' principles to benefit both staff and patients where shadowing is used as a QI method. These, together with new guidance, will ensure that shadowing is conducted as a team exercise, that all those involved are more robustly prepared and supported and that its purpose as a method to improve patient experience will be better understood.