What Should a Hospital Improve for Its Patients? 78 Citizens Decide How to Invest 500 Euros

If you had 500 euros to improve a hospital, what would you spend them on? On making it easier to contact healthcare professionals, improving information, making facilities more comfortable, or enhancing patient care and treatment?

An exercise carried out by researchers from Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and the Science with and for Society Hub at ISGlobal has provided insight into what citizens prioritize when given the opportunity to make these types of decisions.

The patient experience has established itself as a fundamental component of healthcare quality, alongside clinical safety and effectiveness. It refers not only to the outcomes of healthcare, but also to how patients experience the care process. But do citizen priorities match what hospitals think their patients need?

How Would Citizens Invest 500 Euros to Improve a Hospital?

During an open day event at the hospital, the research team presented a challenge to 78 citizens (49 women and 29 men): allocate a fictional budget of €500 across seven key dimensions of patient experience, previously identified in the literature and in over 70 focus groups.

The dimensions to fund were:

• Professional accessibility: Ease of contacting healthcare staff and resolving questions.
• Therapeutic education: Support to gain knowledge on managing one's own health.
• Respectful care: Being treated with dignity, kindness, and empathy.
• Shared decision-making: Collaboration between patient and professional when choosing a treatment.
• Information: Clear and timely communication regarding diagnoses and procedures.
• Participation: Involvement in governance and the improvement of hospital services.
• Physical environment: Quality and comfort of the facilities.

Professional Accessibility: The Top Priority

The results showed an interesting hierarchical logic. Professional accessibility received the largest share of the budget, with 22%. It was followed by therapeutic education and respectful care, at 17% each.

Differences Between Men and Women in Priorities

The study also revealed differences between men and women in budget distribution.

Men allocated a larger portion of their budget to therapeutic education (19% compared to 16% for women). For their part, women prioritized respectful care (18% compared to 14% for men), also assigning higher-value banknotes to this category.

This finding aligns with previous literature indicating that women often report less favorable hospital experiences, particularly in areas related to communication and personal care.

How to Incorporate Citizen Priorities into Healthcare?

This exercise shows that citizen priorities do not always align with what healthcare institutions assume to be most important. Directly involving citizens in decision-making can provide relevant insights for designing initiatives that improve the patient experience.

Directly involving citizens in decision-making can provide relevant insights for designing initiatives that improve the patient experience.

These findings also connect with the Value-Based Health Care approach, which seeks to improve the outcomes that matter to patients while considering the resources required to achieve them. Listening directly to their priorities can help better direct where to invest those resources.

Creating a truly compassionate healthcare environment requires a concerted effort in organizational culture. Healthcare institutions must foster a culture of empathy, respect, and patient-centered care, driven by leaders who prioritize these values.