Kodom Ruby V, Netangaheni Robert T
Department of Health Studies, College of Human Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Department of Health Services Management/DE, School of Continuing and Distance Education, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
Health SA. 2024 Nov 26;29:2623. doi: 10.4102/hsag.v29i0.2623. eCollection 2024.
Patient-centred care (PCC) and patient empowerment (PE) are crucial for better healthcare outcomes, in lower-middle-income countries like Ghana, which continues to encounter many challenges.
The study sought to determine the factors affecting the implementation of PCC and PE in Ghana through the voices of patients and healthcare providers.
The study is based in Ghana, West Africa, and includes three healthcare facilities representing primary, secondary and tertiary care.
A qualitative exploratory descriptive research design was employed to investigate the study's objective by engaging healthcare workers and patients in selected facilities through purposive sampling. While 33 healthcare service providers participated in in-depth interviews, focus group discussions were held with four patient groups. The collected data were analysed thematically to identify key themes and insights.
The analysis revealed three overarching themes: organisational-, individual-, and environmental-level factors influencing PCC and PE. Findings presented under 10 sub-themes show that resource constraints and staff shortages hinder PCC, while patient agency and communication impact PE. In addition, the ability to pay and geographical barriers further hinder access to patient-centred services, affecting overall healthcare delivery.
The findings from this study emphasise that without system-wide interventions to address these issues - including improving resource allocation, enhancing communication, and reducing geographical and financial barriers - achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030 remains highly aspirational.
The contribution of the study is inherent in the relevance of contextual findings towards improving health service delivery.
以患者为中心的护理（PCC）和患者赋权（PE）对于改善医疗保健结果至关重要，在像加纳这样的中低收入国家，该国仍面临诸多挑战。
该研究旨在通过患者和医疗服务提供者的声音来确定影响加纳实施PCC和PE的因素。
该研究以西非的加纳为基础，包括代表初级、二级和三级护理的三个医疗保健机构。
采用定性探索性描述性研究设计，通过目的抽样让选定机构的医护人员和患者参与调查，以探究研究目标。33名医疗服务提供者参与了深入访谈，同时与四个患者群体进行了焦点小组讨论。对收集到的数据进行主题分析，以确定关键主题和见解。
分析揭示了三个总体主题：影响PCC和PE的组织层面、个人层面和环境层面因素。在10个子主题下呈现的研究结果表明，资源限制和人员短缺阻碍了PCC，而患者能动性和沟通影响了PE。此外，支付能力和地理障碍进一步阻碍了获得以患者为中心的服务，影响了整体医疗服务的提供。
本研究的结果强调，如果没有全系统的干预措施来解决这些问题——包括改善资源分配、加强沟通以及减少地理和经济障碍——到2030年实现全民健康覆盖（UHC）仍然只是一个远大的抱负。
该研究的贡献在于其背景研究结果与改善医疗服务提供的相关性。
