Humanizing medicine: a patient perspective

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research was to explore patients’ shared perceptions of what makes them feel valued and devalued during in-patient and out-patient medical visits and patients’ recommendations for increasing feelings of value. A criterion-based snowball sampling method was used to recruit participants who are adults living in Anchorage, Alaska, and have had an in-patient or out-patient medical visit within at least the past year. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted using eight open-ended questions via Zoom web conferencing. Data were stored and managed electronically. A thematic analysis approach guided data analysis. A phenomenological approach was applied to capture participants’ shared experiences. This study’s key findings highlight a shared patient perception that communication is paramount in conveying value: conversations with healthcare providers instill value, feeling valued is essential to well-being, feeling devalued is driven by depersonalization, and devaluation perpetuates discontinuity in healthcare.

KEYWORDS:

• Patient perceptions
• feeling valued
• medical visit
• humanized medicine

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express appreciation to the participants for sharing their time and wisdom. Additionally, the author wishes to thank faculty mentor, Kathi Trawver, PhD for her steadfast support and encouragement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The author reports there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.