Factors Associated with Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations for COPD Patients: A Qualitative Analysis of Patient Perspectives.

Purpose: Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions (ACSCs) refer to hospital encounters that could potentially be prevented with improved primary care. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) as one of the typical ACSCs, and its hospitalization is considered potentially preventable through the quality primary care. However, the literature on factors influencing Potentially Preventable Hospitalization (PPH) has rarely been conducted from the patient perspective, especially in China. Our study aims to explore the factors influencing PPH for COPD patients.

Patients and methods: This was a qualitative study. Twenty participants hospitalized by COPD were recruited from the healthcare institutions in China. The semi-structured interviews were conducted from July to August 2022. The data were gathered and analyzed systematically using thematic analysis.

Results: Patients' experiences for PPH generated two main themes: environmental characteristics and personal characteristics. Sub-themes included accessibility of healthcare resources, medical services capability, healthcare insurance policy, working environment, disease cognition, health awareness, disease burden, income constrain, disease perception, negative emotions, and comorbidity.

Conclusion: Environmental characteristics and personal characteristics are factors associated with PPH for COPD patients. It is important to enhance the medical service ability, improve the accessibility of healthcare resources and the health literacy of patients.