Quality care: Fears and expectations of patients and relatives in admission process

Abstract

Background and Aims:Describe and analyze the sequence of facts that families and patients have to cope with during the admission process at the hospital.Methods:Based on a simple questionnaire applied to patients and relatives at the entrance of the hospital we obtain some interesting information about expectations and fears that may interfere in the relationship between users and staff. This information is very useful in order to plan not also the sequence of persons that may talk to the patient and/or their relatives but the content of the conversation to aim the best relationship and minimize stressors during hospitalization.Results:We list the main fears that appear in the process classified in four topics:Fears previous to admissionFears at first contactFears in proper admission processFears in relationship with the therapistsWe also list main expectations in two topics:Relative's expectationsPatient's expectations: related to diagnosis, therapeutic process, staff, structures and rooms of the hospital and other circumstances.Conclusions:Fears and expectations of patients and relatives interfere in admission process but also in hospitalization and post discharge period.It is very useful to know those fears and expectations in order to plan the hospitalization process.This information is also useful to plan staff training and edit an information guide given at the entrance. This may also improve quality care parameters at Hospital.