Using discovery interviews to understand the patient experience.

Ensuring and maintaining patients' dignity have been defining attributes of good nursing for the past 150 years and should be quality indicators by which nurses can measure their performance. In recent years, however, the demands for health care, rising life expectancy, and the speed of medical advances may have hindered nurses from ensuring privacy and dignity. In some cases, this has led to poor experiences for patients and there have been calls for a renewed focus on these attributes. This article reports the results of a study in which 'discovery interviews' were undertaken to examine patients' experiences of dignity in care. It also describes some changes in practice that were made in response to the findings.