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- Title
Exploring the patient experience with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection in Ontario, Canada.
- Authors
Downie, Kelsey; Salpeter, Mary Jane; Smita Hota, Susy
- Abstract
Background: Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection is a leading cause of hospital-acquired diarrhea, and many sufferers experience infection recurrence after treatment. Several aspects of the burden of C. difficile infection have been recognized, including a substantial morbidity and mortality and extensive healthcare costs. However, personal difficulties in the patient experience with recurrent C. difficile infection in Canada have not been thoroughly explored. Methods: A mixed methods approach, involving the qualitative and quantitative analyses of a written survey that was distributed to 9 outpatients with recurrent Clostridium difficile infection in Ontario, Canada, was used to investigate themes related to patient-perceived quality of care. Results: Important themes in the patient experience included knowledge and understanding of C. difficile infection, access to adequate care in times of need, and emotional and physical hardships in the lived experience with recurrent C. difficile infection. Each of these themes could be broken down into a number of subthemes. Within the knowledge and understanding theme, a prominent subtheme was confusion and uncertainty about symptoms. Regarding access to care, subthemes included timely care and access to novel treatments such as fecal transplantation. Conclusions: These themes highlight patient attitudes and circumstances that are associated with difficulty and dissatisfaction with care. Supportive patient resources and clinical care strategies should include improved education about recurrent C. difficile infection and how to live with it, easy access to care when symptoms return, and counseling on management strategies for living with recurrent C. difficile infection.
- Subjects
CANADA; CLOSTRIDIUM diseases; RESEARCH methodology; PATIENT satisfaction; SURVEYS; DISEASE relapse; THEMATIC analysis; ATTITUDES toward illness
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Infection Control / Revue Canadienne de Prévention des Infections, 2017, Vol 32, Issue 2, p81
- ISSN
1183-5702
- Publication type
Article