Patient Flow or the Patient’s Journey? Exploring Health Care Providers’ Experiences and Understandings of Implementing a Care Pathway to Improve the Quality of Transitional Care for Older People

Internationally, the implementation of care pathways is a common strategy for making transitional care for older people more effective and patient-centered. Previous research highlights inherent tensions in care pathways, particularly in relation to their patient-centered aspects, which may cause di...

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Published inQualitative health research Vol. 31; no. 9; pp. 1710 - 1723
Main Authors Olsen, Cecilie Fromholt, Bergland, Astrid, Debesay, Jonas, Bye, Asta, Langaas, Anne Gudrun
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.07.2021
SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
Subjects
Continuity of care
Elder care
Health technology assessment
Medical personnel
Older people
Patient communication
Patient-centered care
Patients
Qualitative research
Quality management
Quality of care
Transitions
thematic analysis
care pathway
policy implementation
patient-centered care
care transitions
institutional logics
older people
health care providers
quality of care
Scandinavia
qualitative interviews
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Summary:Internationally, the implementation of care pathways is a common strategy for making transitional care for older people more effective and patient-centered. Previous research highlights inherent tensions in care pathways, particularly in relation to their patient-centered aspects, which may cause dilemmas for health care providers. Health care providers’ understandings and experiences of this, however, remain unclear. Our aim was to explore health care providers’ experiences and understandings of implementing a care pathway to improve transitional care for older people. We conducted semistructured interviews with 20 health care providers and three key persons, along with participant observations of 22 meetings, in a Norwegian quality improvement collaborative. Through a thematic analysis, we identified an understanding of the care pathway as both patient flow and the patient’s journey and a dilemma between the two, and we discuss how the negotiation of conflicting institutional logics is a central part of care pathway implementation.
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ISSN:1049-7323
1552-7557
DOI:10.1177/10497323211003861