New Windows on Patient Experience in Health Care: Blogs, Vlogs, Facebook, and More

Location

3049

Format Type

Paper

Format Type

Paper

Start Date

January 2016

End Date

January 2016

Abstract

New emphasis on patient-centered care has done much to increase qualitative inquiry in healthcare research. As healthcare providers are held accountable for patient satisfaction, they need to understand how patients experience and perceive their care, and why. But, research is often restricted to traditional modes of qualitative inquiry—focus groups or interviews—because these are familiar. Privacy regulations may also pre-emptively stop researchers from considering observational data collection. Data analysis, too, often consists of only a few techniques—coding, thematic analysis—deemed the “most rigorous.” These traditional methods may also produce results that are less concrete and biased by researchers’ goals and objectives. For example, doctors may be told that they need to “interact respectfully” and “partner with patients,” without much to tell them what that entails.

Meanwhile, patients are creating their own rich repository of information about their experiences though blogs, vlogs, photo archives, or public social media. For example, videos like this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyGRFiSv2bI) open a new window into the patient’s world. Not only do patients record and comment on their actual care, permitting new insights into what really happens in a hospital, but they choose what data to collect and how, reflecting what is naturally important to them. Because patients collect and publicly release this information, this window is also not obscured by privacy laws like HIPAA.

I will explore the value of these novel resources can bring to healthcare researchers and suggest ways in which they could be used to supplement traditional qualitative modalities.

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Jan 14th, 1:45 PM Jan 14th, 2:05 PM

New Windows on Patient Experience in Health Care: Blogs, Vlogs, Facebook, and More

3049

New emphasis on patient-centered care has done much to increase qualitative inquiry in healthcare research. As healthcare providers are held accountable for patient satisfaction, they need to understand how patients experience and perceive their care, and why. But, research is often restricted to traditional modes of qualitative inquiry—focus groups or interviews—because these are familiar. Privacy regulations may also pre-emptively stop researchers from considering observational data collection. Data analysis, too, often consists of only a few techniques—coding, thematic analysis—deemed the “most rigorous.” These traditional methods may also produce results that are less concrete and biased by researchers’ goals and objectives. For example, doctors may be told that they need to “interact respectfully” and “partner with patients,” without much to tell them what that entails.

Meanwhile, patients are creating their own rich repository of information about their experiences though blogs, vlogs, photo archives, or public social media. For example, videos like this one (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyGRFiSv2bI) open a new window into the patient’s world. Not only do patients record and comment on their actual care, permitting new insights into what really happens in a hospital, but they choose what data to collect and how, reflecting what is naturally important to them. Because patients collect and publicly release this information, this window is also not obscured by privacy laws like HIPAA.

I will explore the value of these novel resources can bring to healthcare researchers and suggest ways in which they could be used to supplement traditional qualitative modalities.