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. 2023 Sep 8:11:1152054.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1152054. eCollection 2023.

Thinking beyond the virus: perspective of patients on the quality of hospital care before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Eliza Lai-Yi Wong  1   2 , Kailu Wang  1   2 , Annie Wai-Ling Cheung  1   2 , Chris Graham  3 , Eng-Kiong Yeoh  1   2
Affiliations

Thinking beyond the virus: perspective of patients on the quality of hospital care before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Eliza Lai-Yi Wong et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on the healthcare system and affects the normal delivery of routine healthcare services to hospitalized patients. This study aimed to examine the differences in patient experience of hospital service before and during COVID-19 among the discharged adult population.

Methods: A territory-wide patient experience survey was conducted before and during COVID-19 (between October 2019 and April 2020) among patients discharged from the main acute and rehabilitation public hospitals in Hong Kong. A hierarchical ordinal logistic model was employed to examine the difference in multiple dimensions of patient experience, with adjustments of covariates.

Results: In total, 9,800 participants were recruited. During the pandemic, there was a marginally significant increase in overall care rating (AOR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.99-1.27), and an improvement in the timeliness of admission. However, significant reductions in patients' confidence in nurses were observed. Communication of information regarding medication side effects reduced significantly (AOR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.64-0.82).

Conclusion: The patients hospitalized during the pandemic reported worse responsiveness in communication in their patient journey than those admitted before the pandemic. These findings will help develop appropriate strategies to address patients' concerns in the new normal.

Keywords: COVID-19; hospitalization; nurse–patient relationship; patient experience; person-centred care.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Difference of overall impression score change according to length of stay and before/during the pandemic LOS, length of stay. The Y-axis (“Score”) referred to the patient ratings to that item.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Difference of overall impression score change according to admission source of the patients LOS, length of stay. The Y-axis (“Score”) referred to the patient ratings to that item.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Association between patient experience and before/during the pandemic with adjustment of covariates AOR, adjusted odds ratio; CI, confidence interval. This figure showed the ordinal logistic regression outcomes for the association between patient experience and before/during the pandemics, where AOR > 1 referred to higher rating to that item during the pandemics and AOR < 1 referred to lower rating during the pandemics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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