What matters to older adults? Exploring person-centred care during and after transitions between hospital and home

Abstract

Aims and objectives: To explore person-centred care provided to a group of older adults (65+) by understanding their experiences of care received, their participation in care and what matters to them during and after the transition process between hospital and home. Background: Although facilitating person-centred care (PCC) has gained increasing importance globally over the last few decades, its practical implementation has been challenging. This has caused difficulties in determining its core elements and best practices. Person-centred care aims to deliver healthcare services based on individuals' preferences. Several approaches have been developed to better implement person-centred care practices. The Norwegian transitional and follow-up model, ‘Holistic Continuity of Patient Care’, chooses the ‘What Matters to You?’ approach. Other approaches include ‘Shared Decision Making’ and ‘Continuity of Care’. Design: This study employed a qualitative design. Methods: Individual repeated interviews were conducted among eight participants. A hermeneutic exploratory research method was chosen. The COREQ checklist was followed. Results: Three main themes related to person-centred care emerged: what matters in meetings with the individual healthcare worker, mobilising health-promoting capabilities and resources and what matters when being in the organisational healthcare system. Conclusion: To participate in their own health issues, older people need to be empowered and better informed about the importance and scope of person-centred care. ‘What Matters to You?’ is a good focus for the direction of care but can lead to a simplified understanding of individuals' preferences. Increased focus on how care recipients' capabilities and resources affect their responding is needed. Relevance to clinical practice: Ensuring that person-centred aspects are incorporated into the entire healthcare system requires better methods of engaging and empowering older adults in healthcare settings; more focus on PCC competence and skills of healthcare professionals as well as better integration of PCC practices into healthcare administration and policies.