Usefulness of a patient experience study to adjust psychosocial oncology and spiritual care services according to patients’ needs

Little is known about how cancer patients experience psychosocial and spiritual care services and about what services they feel should be offered in order to help them meet their actual needs. This study’s main goal was to examine how cancer patients experienced the psychosocial oncology and spiritual care (POSC) services they received, in order to adjust the service offer according to their expressed needs and expectancies. A qualitative design approach was used. The study was conducted in two phases: (1) Collection of the patients’ perspective and divulgation of the results to the clinical team and managers; and (2) assessment of the impact of the patient experience study results on the clinical team’s services and managerial decisions. Suggestions for improvement were gathered mainly around the themes of service delivery and information about services. Contrary to what was expected, delays to access service responded to patients’ needs and expectations. According to clinical managers, patients’ perspectives on their services legitimized the maintenance of certain services, and were levers that helped make coherent and targeted changes. They felt the changes they made were patient-driven instead of being driven by staff’s perception of patients’ needs. The fact that results emerged from a fairly large and structured patient experience evaluation had an impact on the motivation of stakeholders to initiate changes. These results suggest that collecting patients’ perspective will likely help clinicians and managers tailor service delivery to meet patients’ needs and expectations and may contribute to set more informative standards regarding access to care delays.