Person-centered care in a tertiary hospital from patients’ eyes: Hospital-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Healthcare systems around the world have begun to move towards a person (or patient)-centered care approach. Although this approach seems to have been newly adopted in some healthcare organizations, there is no evidence of person-centered care among hospitals in Saudi Arabia. The aims of this study were to assess patients’ perspectives on the climate of person-centered care and its associated factors in a Saudi tertiary hospital, and to examine the reliability of the Arabic version of the Person-centered Climate Questionnaire – Patient (PCQ-P) version. Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, the validated version of the PCQ-P was distributed to 300 adult patients admitted to hospital for more than 48 hours. Patients from 16 inpatient departments at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were interviewed using the PCQ-P. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (version 22; IBM, NY, USA). Results: A total of 300 questionnaires were completed. Within this number of respondents, 159 (53%) were females; 119 were aged 21–40 years; 72.7% were married; 147 (49%) had attained up to a high school level of education; and (67.4%) were unemployed. Inpatients’ overall mean PCQ-P score was 73 ± 9.988 out of 85. Results suggested some significant associations between patient characteristics and their perspectives on person-centered care, such as age ( P =0.005), gender ( P <0.001), nationality ( P =0.026), area of residency ( P =0.001), route to admission ( P =0.002), length of stay ( P =0.003), and hospital preference ( P =0.010). The Arabic version of the PCQ-P was found to be reliable (Cronbach’s α=0.840), indicating its applicability to measure the climate of person-centered care in an Arabic-speaking context. Conclusions: Patient and hospital characteristics are important in terms of patients’ perceptions of the climate of person-centered care. The Arabic translation of the PCQ-P tool is a reliable way to measure this climate within the setting of an Arabic-speaking tertiary care hospital.