Background: The study focused on perceptions of older adults toward the healthcare processes they experienced during a clinical trial for back pain that involved family medicine residents and licensed chiropractors.
Methods: Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 115 older adults after a 12-week, 3-arm, randomized controlled trial. Two researchers conducted thematic analysis with inductive coding using qualitative software to identify participants' salient experiences of the doctor-patient relationship, healthcare process, and collaboration between study providers. Investigators categorized thematic codes within an existing framework of clinical excellence in primary care.
Results: Participants emphasized provider communication and interpersonal relationships, professionalism and passion for patient care, clinical and diagnostic acumen, and skillful negotiation of the health-care system. Older adults also described the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and their preferences for receiving hands-on treatments for musculoskeletal conditions.
Conclusion: These older adults valued doctors who communicated clearly and spent time listening to their concerns. Many participants appreciated clinicians who supported an active role for patients in their health-care and who provided touch-based care for musculoskeletal conditions.
Keywords: chiropractors; collaboration; doctor–patient relationship; family medicine physicians; health services delivery; older adults.
© The Author(s) 2019.