The Hospital Experience Through the Patients’ Eyes

BACKGROUND: Posthospital syndrome is associated with a decrease in physical and cognitive function and can contribute to overall patient decline. We can speculate on contributors to this decline (eg, poor sleep and nutrition), but other factors may also contribute. This study seeks to explain how patients experience hospitalization with particular attention on what makes the hospital stay difficult. DESIGN: Qualitative interview study using grounded theory methodology. SETTING: Single-site academic medical center. PATIENTS: Hospitalized general medicine patients. MEASUREMENTS: Interviews using a semistructured interview guide. RESULTS: We recruited 20 general medicine inpatients from an academic medical center. Of the participants, 12 were women and the mean age was 55 years (range = 22-82 years). We found 4 major themes contributing to the hospital experience: (1) hospital environment (eg, food quality and entertainment), (2) patient factors (eg, indifference and expectations), (3) hospital personnel (eg, care team size and level of helpfulness), and (4) patient feelings (eg, level of control and feeling like an object). We discovered that these emotions arising from hospital experiences, together with the other 3 major themes, led to the patients’ perception of their hospital experience overall. We also explore the role that patient tolerance may play in the reporting of patient satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS: This article demonstrates the factors affecting how patients experience hospitalization. It provides insight into possible contributors to posthospital syndrome and offers a blueprint for specific quality improvement initiatives. Lastly, it briefly explores how patient tolerance may prove a challenge to the current system of quality reporting.