Trustful conversations: a qualitative interview study on older patients’ experiences of the intervention Proactive healthcare in a Swedish primary care setting

AIM: To explore older patients’ experiences of the intervention Proactive healthcare for frail elderly persons. BACKGROUND: Previous research has indicated that continuity and good access to primary care can improve satisfaction in older people seeking care. However, little is known about the older patients’ experiences in taking part of interventions aiming to enhance the care. METHODS: Individual interviews were conducted with 24 older patients who participated in the intervention Proactive healthcare for frail elderly persons, selected from nine Swedish primary care centres. Interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. FINDINGS: Older patients’ experiences of the intervention involved five manifest categories: Ways of naming the elder care team, covering the older patients’ lack of understanding regarding their connection to the team, and the need for clarity on this and on how the specialised care provided differed from conventional care; Availability, indicating how older patients associated easy access and a direct telephone number with a team nurse available at certain times with a sense of security; The importance of relations, covering how patients appreciated continuity in their personal and professional conversations with staff; A feeling of safety and trust, stressing the value of older persons attach to being given enough time, to be listened to and being recognised as people; and Finiteness of life, which refers to the difficulty of having end-of-life conversations and the need for experienced staff with personal knowledge of the patients. The latent theme Trustful conversations was created to give a deeper meaning to the content of the categories. Trustful conversations, created through good personal knowledge of patients and continuity of contact, engender a feeling of safety in older patients. Using elder care teams could result in a better quality of care, with increased satisfaction and feelings of security among patients, and a reduction in healthcare needs.