IRS 2017 Patient Experience

The issue of personalized care—or taking the patient experience into account (a neologism adapted from the English term)—is the subject of renewed discussion in France, as in many Western countries. Wolf et al. (2014) identify three dimensions of the “patient experience”: 1) The patient and their family are considered full partners in care, possessing the capacity for action and lay knowledge; 2) Focusing on the patient’s needs requires a form of personalized care that goes beyond strictly medical treatment; 3) The care experience unfolds along a trajectory built around a series of touchpoints between an individual and organizations that extend beyond mere care interactions. In other words, it involves recognizing that “providing care” is not a production but a co-production, involving not only healthcare providers but also multiple actors who extend beyond the realm of care, and whose quality is assessed not only based on standards designed by professionals but also contextually through lived experiences, including those in daily life. It reflects the way the healthcare system and policies are experienced by people. It operates within organizations and political institutions by taking into account people’s individual and collective rights and by strengthening their autonomy and empowerment. While this
principle of quality of care has been the subject of in-depth reflection, its implementation within organizational and institutional dynamics and in management tools remains inadequate. This project therefore aims to help bridge this gap by bringing together diverse perspectives from the social sciences that approach the healthcare system from different yet complementary angles: healthcare teams, healthcare facilities, care networks, regulatory bodies, and health policy.

The project consists of three parts:

1) Review of the academic literature and institutional discourse to map out the various meanings attributed to the concept of “patient experience” and related terms, such as “care” and “capabilities.” Study of the implications for the design of quality management tools.

2) Expanding and accelerating ongoing research that requires field data collection and benefits from doctoral fellowships, in order to identify barriers and enablers to effectively incorporating the patient experience in two specific contexts: support for caregivers (non-professional family members) of vulnerable individuals (those who are ill, have disabilities, or are elderly), and the consideration of patients’ unique experiences within hospital care services.

3) Sharing knowledge and establishing a network for knowledge exchange in the form of a workshop.

Six researchers are involved in the project: Anaïs Cheneau (CREG, School of Economics, Ph.D. candidate), Sébastien Gand (CERAG IEP, Assistant Professor), Valérie Fargeon (CREG, School of Economics, Assistant Professor), Cyrille Mennessier (CERAG, Ph.D. candidate), Véronique Simonnet (CREG, Faculty of Economics, Professor), and Annick Valette (CERAG, IAE, Assistant Professor/HDR), the project leader.