Form 6 Patient Interview guide

Form Approved
OMB No. 0935-XXXX
Exp. Date XX/XX/20XX

Attachment G:

Patients Interview Guide

Patients Interview Guide

Notes:

The intended participants for this IG are patients who received the ED and User Guide intervention and did not come back to the ED for 30 days The group will be comprised of ~16 patients total, at least 12 of them successful discharge. Success is defined by them not coming back to the ER for 30 consecutive days after having used ED regularly for months/ years.

1. Introductions and confidentiality statement

Hello.  My name is             I want thank you for participating in this interview.  You were discharged from the ER several weeks ago.  We would like to learn more about your health care problems, your treatment experiences using ER, and changes you would like to see.  

This discussion is private and confidential.  There are no right or wrong answers in this discussion. You are free to refuse to answer any questions. I would like to record this conversation so that I can accurately represent your words in my research. Your name will not be used from the recording.

Do you agree to participate? If so please could you say your name on the tape.

1. Understanding the patient’s health and health care

• What are your biggest or most serious concerns about your health?

• Are any of these prolbems you have had for a long time?

2. Barriers to Health

• What would you say are your biggest challenges to having good health?

3. Access to Care

• Do you have a primary doctor whom you go to regularly outside the hospital?

  • How long have you been seeing this doctor?

  • Do you have any difficulties seeing your doctor when you need to?

    • getting an appointment

    • transportation

    • costs

• Over the past year or so have you received care from any other health care providers

  • ER

  • Specialists

  • Etc…

• Have there any been situations over the past year when you felt you needed medical care of some kind but were unable to receive it?

  • Why?

  • What did you do instead?

• Do you have health insurance of any kind?

• If no… why not?

• If no… does this interfere with your ability to get care?

• If yes… do you feel your insurance enables you to receive good care whenever you need it? (follow up if they say no)

4. Patient’s experience and use of ER

• How often over the past month have you visited an ER—either this ER or another?

1. Were there any other periods over the past year where you have had to visit the ER more than once within a relatively short period of time?

2. Do you think you have been visiting the ER more or less often over the past three months than you have at other times over the last year?

• Let’s talk about the last time you went to ER.

1. How did you get to the ER?

2. What prompted you to seek care?

3. Was this the first time you went to the ER for this specific condition?

• If yes, what specific instructions did the doctor or nurse give you about steps to take to after you went home (probe for: fill prescriptions? make or keep appts with other doctor/clinic? Come back in? Other?)

• If no, how often had you sought treatment for this condition at the ER before?

• If no, were the home care instructions you received different than they had been at your earlier visits?

• Thinking back on your last ER visit, did it seem different in any way from other times you’ve been to the ER? Can you tell me how?

5. Let’s talk about what happened after you left the ER the last time

• What did you have to do to follow up on the instructions that the doctor/nurse gave you?

• Did you have any difficulties following up with any of the specific instructions you received?

  • did you receive instructions to follow up with another doctor/ clinic?

  • Were you able to do so?

  • What did that involve?

  • If not, why not (probe: cost, convenience, transportation)

• Was anything done for you at the ER during your most recent visit that made it easier than it has been in the past for you to follow the instructions you received from the doctor or nurse about steps to take once you got home?

6. Patient Satisfaction and Unmet Needs

• Overall, were you more or less satisfied with your care during the last visit than during prior visit?

  • Was there anything in particular that happened that caused you to be more/less satisfied?

• Is there anything you wish went differently during your ER visit or that you think could have been done better?

• Is there anything more that could have been done in the ER to:

  • help you manage your condition?

  • help you receive the follow up care or services that you need or that were recommended?

  • Anything else?

Thank you for your time.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, the estimated time required to complete the survey. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.  Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: AHRQ Reports Clearance Officer Attention: PRA, Paperwork Reduction Project (0935-XXXX) AHRQ, 540 Gaither Road, Room # 5036, Rockville, MD 20850.