Patient Journeys: A Qualitative Assessment Exploring Patient Availability and Interest in Whole Health Services

Our aim was to assess patients' availability for, and interest in, integrative holistic health offerings during a hospitalization. Although health care systems are increasingly providing holistic services in outpatient settings, limited research exists concerning expansion to inpatient settings. In this exploratory qualitative assessment using a 5-phased systems-engineering approach to improve the well-being of hospitalized patients and their clinicians, we deployed a modified engineering concept ("customer journey") to collect information on how patients interact with the hospital environment and their clinicians. These journeys included observing patients throughout their hospitalization and conducting semi-structured telephone interviews after discharge. Observational data, captured via field notes, was used to calculate the percentage of time various interactions occurred during a patient's hospital stay (eg, eating, idle, sleeping, clinical encounters) making them potentially available or unavailable for additional holistic or whole health offerings. Interviews, conducted to understand patient views on these offerings, were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using content analysis. Eleven patients from 2 Midwestern hospitals were observed for a total of 115 hours. Observations revealed that patients have substantial idle time during hospital stays, especially in the late afternoon between 3:00 and 5:00 pm. Follow-up interviews with 7 of these patients showed that patients have an interest in holistic health offerings (eg, massage therapy, aromatherapy, and music options) and believe that they could benefit from these services. Our study revealed that patients have the time, the interest, and the belief that they may benefit from whole health offerings during a hospital stay.