The Patient Experience of Inpatient Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Exploring Patient Perceptions, Communication, and Quality of Care at a University Teaching Hospital in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has necessitated many rapid changes in the provision and delivery of health care in hospital. This study aimed to explore the patient experience of inpatient care during COVID-19 pandemic. An electronic questionnaire was designed and distributed to inpatients treated at a large University Health Board over a 6-week period. It focused on hospital inpatients’ experience of being cared for by health care professionals wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), explored communication, and patients’ perceptions of the quality of care. A total of 704 patients completed the survey. Results demonstrated that patients believe PPE is important to protect the health of both patients and staff and does not negatively impact on their care. In spite of routine use of PPE, patients were still able to identify and communicate with staff. Although visiting restrictions were enforced to limit disease transmission, patients maintained contact with their relatives by using various electronic forms of communication. Overall, patients rated the quality of care they received at 9/10. This single-center study demonstrates a positive patient experience of care at an unprecedented time.

Patient Experience on a Hospital Oncology Service Before and After Implementation of a No-Visitor Policy During COVID-19

“…Within our institution during the no-visitor period, treatment teams increasingly arranged patient-inclusive televideo family meetings, and visitor restrictions were incorporated into care coordination during multidisciplinary case management rounds and discharge planning. These measures were similar to what has been recommended in the literature and systematically reported by other institutions ( 5 , 8 , 14 ). Preliminary results of our findings were presented at a hospital Quality Improvement forum and shared with treatment teams.…”

“…This project demonstrates that by certain measures, patient experience among those with cancer and non-COVID-19 diagnoses may not be adversely affected by no-visitor policies. These findings add to the mixed results reported on the subject ( 2 , 5 – 8 ), and we suspect that they are multifactorial. They corroborate evidence suggesting that patients may still rate their quality of care highly during visitor restrictions, notwithstanding their reported sense of loneliness ( 8 ).…”

“…These findings add to the mixed results reported on the subject ( 2 , 5 – 8 ), and we suspect that they are multifactorial. They corroborate evidence suggesting that patients may still rate their quality of care highly during visitor restrictions, notwithstanding their reported sense of loneliness ( 8 ). Within our institution during the no-visitor period, treatment teams increasingly arranged patient-inclusive televideo family meetings, and visitor restrictions were incorporated into care coordination during multidisciplinary case management rounds and discharge planning.…”

“…Among patients admitted for non-COVID-19 reasons, the literature on patient experience is limited and mixed ( 6 – 8 ). For instance, Zeh et al have shown that visitor restrictions adversely impacted the postoperative experience among surgical patients with respect to psychosocial support and discharge planning, while Shannon et al found that a majority of surgical patients in their sample reported that restrictions had no impact on their hospital stay ( 6 , 7 ).…”

“…For instance, Zeh et al have shown that visitor restrictions adversely impacted the postoperative experience among surgical patients with respect to psychosocial support and discharge planning, while Shannon et al found that a majority of surgical patients in their sample reported that restrictions had no impact on their hospital stay ( 6 , 7 ). Recent evidence from the United Kingdom showed that while visitor restrictions contributed to patient loneliness, patients still rated their quality of care as high ( 8 ). As hospitals continue to consider and implement limitations on visitors, there is little understanding of how this may affect the experience of patients hospitalized for non-COVID-19 conditions, especially among patients diagnosed with cancer.…”