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Background An improved understanding of patients’ lived experiences can identify opportunities to advance patient-centered care, particularly during times of limited healthcare resources. Objectives To better understand the patient experiences of hospitalization and inform the development of hospital-level strategies to improve inpatient patient-centered care. Methods In this multicenter national qualitative study, we conducted semi-structured interviews of patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Using thematic analysis, we organized our findings around the Levels of Personhood conceptual model. Results We interviewed 47 adults, including 26 (55%) who identified as female, 14 (30%) as Black, and 19 (40%) as Hispanic/Latino. Median age was 61 (IQR 49-66) and 21% of patients had ICU admissions. We identified three themes: (1) Preserving biologic personhood is important to maintain autonomy; (2) Prioritizing individual personhood is crucial for healing and medical decision-making; (3) Maintaining sociologic personhood is necessary for recovery. We identified several in-hospital interventions aimed at improving patient-centered care. Conclusions We identified themes describing patients’ lived experiences of hospitalization and propose a modified model of personhood that can be leveraged to study and design interventions aimed at improving patient-centered hospital care.
Jung et al. (Mon,) studied this question.