Māori Patients and Families’ Experience of Care in Adult General Medical Services
How patients and whānau experience care in our hospitals affects their health outcomes. The inequitable health outcomes seen, particularly for Māori and Pacific patients, suggest that not everyone experiences our health system in the same way. Inequitable health outcomes are unjust, avoidable and unnecessary. To address these inequities it’s important to work with those affected to create change, starting by listening to their perspectives.
Image of Adult Medical Services, Cultural Experience Project, Māori patients and whānau report
In 2018 Auckland DHB explored the experiences of Māori and Pacific patients and whānau on our general medicine wards. We’ll focus on the experience of Māori patients and their whānau in this blog, but if you’d like to read about the experiences of Pacific patients and their families a separate project post covers this.
Images of AMS posters - Better understanding Māori patient & whānau experiences (left), Better understanding the experiences of Pacific patients and family (right).
Twelve Māori patients and their whānau were interviewed with the support of Auckland DHB kaiatawhai and the Māori Patient and Whānau Experience Lead. These interviews explored the experience of Māori as tangata whenua and treaty partners, and revealed the following themes:
Kanohi ki te kanohi - talking face to face
Whakawhanaungatanga - building connections
Rapua he ara tika - walking in two worlds
Mana motuhake - making autonomous choices
Te mana o te whānau - recognising whānau
Better understanding Māori patient & whānau experiences poster
These findings are summarized the AMS Māori Report. For each theme the ideal state, principles and suggested actions were outlined. These suggestions were then given to nursing leaders to translate into tangible change initiatives. An education pack was created to share with ward staff.
November 2021
THANK YOU
At the heart of this work are the patients and whānau who shared their stories with us in order to improve the experiences of future patients. We are deeply grateful for their input.
AUTHORS
Emma Wylie - Consultation & Co-Design Manager, Ara Manawa
Vanessa Duthie - Consumer Experience Team Manager, Patient Experience