Physician care in assisted living: A qualitative study

Objectives

To identify patterns and emerging concepts used by assisted living (AL) residents, their families, and the facility staff to describe the care provided by physicians to the AL residents.

Design

Qualitative research and analysis based on audio-taped and transcribed ethnographic interviews with residents, family members, and staff of AL facilities.

Setting

Three AL facilities representing small and traditional AL facilities.

Participants

Forty-three in-depth interviews including 16 AL residents, 13 family members, three facility managers, and 11 staff members.

Measurements

Ethnographic, audio-taped interviews coded by consensus by a doctoral-level analysis team. Coding focused broadly on any references to physicians or doctors in the interviews.

Results

Emergent themes included four majorphysician-related themes in AL including: magnification of physician authority; disagreements with physician care; physician communication; and continuity/discontinuity of physician care.

Conclusion

Physicians caring for residents of AL facilities should consider how residents, families, and staff stakeholders may influence their patient care for AL residents in terms of their authority, decision-making, communication, and continuity of care.

Keywords:  Physician-patient interaction , authority, family, medical care