Support for teams, technology and patient involvement in decision-making associated with support for patient-centred care

Abstract

Objective: Patient-centred care is recommended to transform healthcare delivery to improve the quality and safety of healthcare. This study aimed to assess the determinants of support for attributes of patient-centred care (PCC) from Canadian public and professionals' perspectives.

Design: A national population-based survey, the Health Care in Canada Survey.

Setting: Canada.

Participants: One-thousand Canadian adults, 101 doctors, 100 nurses, 100 pharmacists and 104 administrators, randomly selected from online panels based on multiple source recruitment.

Intervention: None.

Main outcome measure: Support for PCC, assessed using a summary score across seven items.

Results: Of 1000 Canadian public adults surveyed, 51% were female, 74% were living with another person, and 62% had at least one chronic condition. Only 18% of health professionals were working in teams. Multivariable regression models showed that work in teams (0.24, 95%CI: 0.20, 0.28), use of e-technology (0.29, 95%CI: 0.17, 0.42), and patient older age (0.59, 95%CI: 0.32, 0.86) and involvement in decision-making (0.42, 95%CI: 0.30, 0.55) were significantly associated with higher support for PCC while lower adherence to medications (-0.81, 95%CI: -1.16, -0.47) was associated with a decreased support for attributes of PCC.

Conclusions: The findings confirmed that perceptions of requiring health professionals to work in teams and the use of technology in healthcare are associated with support for PCC from both the public and health professionals. Programs to accelerate the implementation of healthcare teams supported by information and communication technologies are needed to deliver PCC, particularly for individuals living with chronic conditions.

Keywords: chronic conditions; health professionals; health survey; patient-centred care; quality care.