The Impact of COVID-19 on Patient Experience Within a Midwest Hospital System: A Case Study

• Published in: Journal of patient experience 2021-12, Vol.8, p.23743735211065298-23743735211065298
• Main Authors: Drapeaux, Alisa, Jenson, John A., Fustino, Nicholas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Clinical outcomes; Communication; COVID-19; Pandemics; Patient satisfaction
• ISSN: 2374-3735; 2374-3743
• DOI: 10.1177/23743735211065298

Patient-centered communication and patient-provider relationships directly affect patient outcomes. The purpose of this study was to compare inpatient perception of provider/nurse communication in both COVID versus non-COVID diagnoses groups. A qualitative retrospective study was conducted by performing a priori coding analysis on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems surveys from 4 different hospitals for both COVID and non-COVID diagnoses. Five themes emerged from non-COVID patient data: inconsistent health care provider communication, variable patient-provider education, pandemic influenced patient satisfaction and mental health stress, inconsistent hospital services, and stable provider professionalism. Five themes arose from the COVID patient data: provider gratitude, controversial communication methods, consistent patient education, lack of quality patient care, and poor timeliness. There is evidence of shared patient perceptions between both COVID and non-COVID patients, but also differences including timeliness and quality of care. The pandemic influenced all patients by creating non-mutually exclusive themes including overall gratitude and patient satisfaction. Future research should focus on a quantitative analysis of pandemic-related patient-provider communication effects on patient outcomes.