JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research, JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Sep 8;11:1152054. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1152054. eCollection 2023.
The COVID-19 pandemic has a huge impact on the healthcare system and affects the normal delivery of routine healthcare services to hospitalized patients. This study aimed to examine the differences in patient experience of hospital service before and during COVID-19 among the discharged adult population.
A territory-wide patient experience survey was conducted before and during COVID-19 (between October 2019 and April 2020) among patients discharged from the main acute and rehabilitation public hospitals in Hong Kong. A hierarchical ordinal logistic model was employed to examine the difference in multiple dimensions of patient experience, with adjustments of covariates.
In total, 9,800 participants were recruited. During the pandemic, there was a marginally significant increase in overall care rating (AOR: 1.12, 95% CI: 0.99-1.27), and an improvement in the timeliness of admission. However, significant reductions in patients' confidence in nurses were observed. Communication of information regarding medication side effects reduced significantly (AOR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.64-0.82).
The patients hospitalized during the pandemic reported worse responsiveness in communication in their patient journey than those admitted before the pandemic. These findings will help develop appropriate strategies to address patients' concerns in the new normal.
新冠疫情对医疗体系造成了巨大影响，影响了对住院患者的常规医疗服务的正常提供。本研究旨在调查新冠疫情前后出院成年人群体对医院服务体验的差异。
在新冠疫情期间（2019 年 10 月至 2020 年 4 月），对香港主要急症和康复公立医院出院的患者进行了一次全港范围的患者体验调查。采用分层有序逻辑模型，调整了协变量，对多个维度的患者体验差异进行了检验。
共招募了 9800 名参与者。在疫情期间，总体护理评分略有升高（调整后的优势比：1.12，95%可信区间：0.99-1.27），入院及时性有所改善。然而，患者对护士的信任度显著下降。关于药物副作用的信息沟通显著减少（调整后的优势比：0.72，95%可信区间：0.64-0.82）。
与疫情前入院的患者相比，疫情期间住院的患者在其就医过程中的沟通响应性较差。这些发现将有助于制定适当的策略，以解决新常态下患者的担忧。
