What can acute medicine learn from qualitative methods?
OBJECTIVE
The contribution of qualitative methods to evidence-based medicine is growing, with qualitative studies increasingly used to examine patient experience and unsafe organizational cultures. The present review considers qualitative research recently conducted on teamwork and organizational culture in the ICU and also other acute domains.


RESULTS
Qualitative studies have highlighted the importance of interpersonal and social aspects of healthcare on managing and responding to patient care needs. Clear/consistent communication, compassion, and trust underpin successful patient-physician interactions, with improved patient experiences linked to patient safety and clinical effectiveness across a wide range of measures and outcomes. Across multidisciplinary teams, good communication facilitates shared understanding, decision-making and coordinated action, reducing patient risk in the process.


CONCLUSIONS
Qualitative methods highlight the complex nature of risk management in hospital wards, which is highly contextualized to the demands and resources available, and influenced by multilayered social contexts. In addition to augmenting quantitative research, qualitative investigations enable the investigation of questions on social behaviour that are beyond the scope of quantitative assessment alone. To develop improved patient-centred care, health professionals should therefore consider integrating qualitative procedures into their existing assessments of patient/staff satisfaction.
Department of Social Psychology, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
Brett
B
Heasman
Tom W
TW
Reader
D003142:Communication; D003657:Decision Making; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D007857:Leadership; D015279:Organizational Culture; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D036301:Qualitative Research