Hearing the patient voice: a qualitative interview study exploring the patient experience of a nurse-led initiative to integrate and enhance primary and secondary healthcare pathways.

Objective: The Transitional Care Nursing Service was a 2-year proof-of-concept trial exploring local health system readiness for incorporating integrated, person-centred models of care into existing health service structures within a provincial New Zealand context. Improved patient experience remains a priority in international and local healthcare policy directives. This qualitative study aimed to investigate patient experience by exploring the effectiveness of this integrated care person-centred service from the patients' perspective.

Methods: Qualitative, semistructured, face-to-face interviews with 12 patients purposively sampled to achieve maximum variation of patient characteristics within the trial cohort. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim before analysing the data using thematic analysis supported by a general inductive approach.

Results: Findings demonstrated that patient interactions with the transitional care nurse positively influenced patient experience, self-reported outcomes and quality of life following hospitalisation and during the transition period between hospital and home. Participants perceived the nurse to be highly skilled in displaying kindness, empathy, accessibility and responsiveness, and communication skills with participants and their families. They perceived that their interactions with this individual team member working from an integrated care paradigm had a positive impact on their overall experience of care and recovery.

Conclusion: This study supports the use of integrated care principles to deliver person-centred care. The findings emphasise the need to place kindness, compassion and respect at the heart of care delivered to patients, and suggest these core values are an essential factor in improving patient experience and thus the effectiveness of our healthcare systems.