Melanie Lavoie-Tremblay1, Patricia OʼConnor, Anastasia Harripaul, Alain Biron, Judith Ritchie, Brenda MacGibbon, Guylaine Cyr. 1. Melanie Lavoie-Tremblay is an associate professor at the Ingram School of Nursing, McGill University, Montreal, where Anastasia Harripaul and Guylaine Cyr are research assistants.Patricia O'Connor is director of nursing and chief nursing officer in the Department of Nursing Direction at McGill University Health Centre, where Judith Ritchie is associate director for nursing research and Lavoie-Tremblay is a nurse scientist and recipient of a Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé award. Alain Biron is assistant to the director in the Department of Quality, Patient Safety, and Performance at McGill University Health Centre. Brenda MacGibbon is an adjunct professor in the Département de Mathématiques, Université du Quebéc à Montréal. The authors thank the Canadian Health Services Research Foundation for providing financial support for this study. Contact author: Melanie Lavoie-Tremblay, melanie.lavoie-tremblay@mcgill.ca. The authors and planners have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the perceptions of health care workers about engaging patients as partners on care redesign teams under a program called Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB), and to examine the facilitating factors, barriers, and effects of such engagement. DESIGN: This descriptive, qualitative study collected data through focus groups and individual interviews. Participants included health care providers and managers from five units at three hospitals in a university-affiliated health care center in Canada. METHODS: A total of nine focus groups and 13 individual interviews were conducted in April 2012, 18 months after the TCAB program began in September 2010. Content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. FINDINGS: Health care providers and managers benefited from engaging patients in the decision-making process because the patients brought a new point of view. Involving the patients exposed team members to valuable information that they hadn't previously thought about during decision making. CONCLUSION: Health care teams stand to benefit from engaging patients in the change process. Patients contribute a different point of view, and this helps to ensure that the changes proposed and implemented address their needs.
OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the perceptions of health care workers about engaging patients as partners on care redesign teams under a program called Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB), and to examine the facilitating factors, barriers, and effects of such engagement. DESIGN: This descriptive, qualitative study collected data through focus groups and individual interviews. Participants included health care providers and managers from five units at three hospitals in a university-affiliated health care center in Canada. METHODS: A total of nine focus groups and 13 individual interviews were conducted in April 2012, 18 months after the TCAB program began in September 2010. Content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. FINDINGS: Health care providers and managers benefited from engaging patients in the decision-making process because the patients brought a new point of view. Involving the patients exposed team members to valuable information that they hadn't previously thought about during decision making. CONCLUSION: Health care teams stand to benefit from engaging patients in the change process. Patients contribute a different point of view, and this helps to ensure that the changes proposed and implemented address their needs.