Do young and older adults have different health care priorities? Evidence from a national survey of English inpatients.
OBJECTIVE
This article compares the inpatient experience of young versus older adults, and assesses the relative importance of different aspects of health care in these two groups.


METHODS
The study comprised adult inpatients in 161 English hospitals.


METHODS
Standardized scores were calculated covering overall care and eight domains of patient experience (consistency, respect, involvement, nursing, doctors, cleanliness, pain control, and privacy). Values for young and older adults were compared. Additionally, Fisher r-to-z transformation was used to assess age differences in the strength of correlation between overall care and individual care domains.


RESULTS
Young people reported a poorer experience across all aspects of inpatient care (p < .01). Compared with older adults, young men's overall care rating was more strongly correlated to pain control, and young women's to respect and doctors' characteristics (p < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings provide a quantitative national-level evidence base regarding young people's priorities in inpatient care.
General and Adolescent Paediatrics Unit, University College London Institute of Child Health, London, UK. d.hargreaves@ucl.ac.uk
Dougal S
DS
Hargreaves
Steve
S
Sizmur
Russell M
RM
Viner
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D003625:Data Collection; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006292:Health Priorities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008297:Male; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D055815:Young Adult