ArticleBMJ open2019
Capturing the experience of the hospital-stay journey from admission to discharge using diaries completed by patients in their own words: a qualitative study.
Article in BMJ open, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- What Is Known About Family-Inclusive Inpatient Care From Patient and Family Perspectives? An Integrative Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Article
- Capturing dynamics in nursing: a diary study of nurses' job characteristics and ability and willingness to continue working.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Patient Reported Experience Measure in Endoscopic Ultrasonography: The PREUS Study Protocol.Nursing reports (Pavia, Italy) · 2022Article
- What does the patient have to say? Valuing the patient experience to improve the patient journey.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Introducing physician associates to hospital patients: Development and feasibility testing of a patient experience-based intervention.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo capture and better understand patients' experience during their healthcare journey from hospital admission to discharge, and to identify patient suggestions for improvement.
designProspective, exploratory, qualitative study. Patients were asked to complete an unstructured written diary expressed in their own words, recording negative and positive experiences or anything else they considered noteworthy. PARTICIPANTS AND
settingPatients undergoing vascular surgery in a metropolitan hospital. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Complete diary transcripts underwent a general inductive thematic analysis, and opportunities to improve the experience of care were identified and collated.
resultsWe recruited 113 patients in order to collect 80 completed diaries from 78 participants (a participant response rate of 69%), recording patients' experiences of their hospital-stay journey. Participating patients were a median (range) age of 69 (21-99) years and diaries contained a median (range) of 197 (26-1672) words each. Study participants with a tertiary education wrote more in their diaries than those without-a median (range) of 353.5 (48-1672) vs 163 (26-1599) words, respectively (Mann-Whitney U test, p=0.001). Three primary and eight secondary themes emerged from analysis of diary transcripts-primary themes being: (1) communication as central to care; (2) importance of feeling cared for and (3) environmental factors shaping experiences. In the great majority, participants reported positive experiences on the hospital ward. However, a set of 12 patient suggestions for improvement were identified, the majority of which could be addressed with little cost but result in substantial improvements in patient experience. Half of the 12 suggestions for improvement fell into primary theme 1, concerning opportunities to improve communication between healthcare providers and patients.
conclusionsUnstructured diaries completed in a patient's own words appear to be an effective and simple approach to capture the hospital-stay experience from the patient's own perspective, and to identify opportunities for improvement.
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