Patients' Experiences of Care During Hospitalization for Acute Respiratory Failure During COVID-19: A Multi-Center Qualitative Study.

Abstract

Background: An improved understanding of patients' lived experiences can identify opportunities to advance patient-centered care, particularly during times of limited healthcare resources.

Objectives: To better understand the patient experiences of hospitalization and inform the development of hospital-level strategies to improve inpatient patient-centered care.

Methods: In this multicenter national qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured interviews of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Using thematic analysis, we organized our findings around the Levels of Personhood conceptual model.

Results: We interviewed 47 adults, including 26 (55%) who identified as female, 14 (30%) as Black, and 19 (40%) as Hispanic/Latino. Median age was 61 (IQR 49-66) and 21% of patients had ICU admissions. We identified three themes: (1) Preserving biologic personhood is important to maintain autonomy; (2) Prioritizing individual personhood is crucial for healing and medical decision-making; (3) Maintaining sociologic personhood is necessary for recovery. We identified several in-hospital interventions aimed at improving patient-centered care.

Conclusions: We identified themes describing patients' lived experiences of hospitalization and propose a modified model of personhood that can be leveraged to study and design interventions aimed at improving patient-centered hospital care.