In adherence to the General Data Protection Regulations (2018), the consent of the service user was sought, herein referred to as Amie for anonymity. Amie is a mother of two, consented to the occurrence of the interview on a date and time that was favorable to her. The interview was held at her home to keep a close watch on her children. I gave her the list of questions to be used in the interview before the interview date to allow adequate preparation. On the interview date, before we commenced with the interview, an assessment exercise was done. This entailed reading out the questions and Amie gave verbal consent. I asked Amie for any question which was meant to allow her to feel comfortable, at ease, and lead the discussion.
Using the motivational interviewing approach, I used open-ended questions that allowed her to express herself fully concerning the issue raised. I listened carefully while avoiding interruptions thus I only asked by rephrasing to assert what she had said. As she spoke, I maintained eye contact and occasionally looked aside when I felt she was getting uncomfortable. We both used silence for reflection before we began exploring the interview questions. The discussions raised different themes such as continuity of care, person centered care, communication barriers, inadequate time, and tight schedule of the health visitor. The essay will focus on the theme of person centered care which is how to individualize the care given to service users to meet their needs.
How is your experience with health visiting?
Amie indicated that she has had a satisfactory experience though on a limited occasion. She indicated that for her elder child she cannot rate the number of health visits she had because they were rare.
With the youngest, she has had two visits, before birth and the early birth visit. She went ahead to explain that she has had different health visitors all the time which is challenging because of the need to keep disclosing up to a new person every time. Amie also indicated that she was provided with contacts to reach out in case of an emergency or concern as well as she had received a call after the early visit seeking to understand how she was coping as well as the wellbeing of the baby.
What is your perception of an efficient health visitor?
To Amie an efficient health visitor is an informed healthcare professional who can respond to her concerns, is compassionate and understanding. She illustrated that it should be an individual who is willing to listen to her without being judgmental. Amie indicated that even though she has met different health visitors, they were respectful and patient with her and have supported her in ensuring her needs are met as well as that of her children.
How can you rate the services you received from the health visitor?
The services were excellent Amie reported. She asserted that the services have made her feel at ease as she is currently knowledgeable on how to best take care of her children. She indicated that it is through health visiting service information she is purposing to exclusively breastfeed her child up to six months and ensure they get all the recommended immunizations.
What could you want to be improved about the interactions you had?
Despite being satisfied with the services, I would like the consistency and the scheduling of health visitors. Meeting a new person all the time is not easy given the fact that health visitors have different approaches to service delivery. Amie indicated that the health visiting schedule should be consistent so that she knows when to expect them even though they communicate before coming but at times she has to suspend her program to accommodate the visit.
Were all your needs met or there are things you wanted to be done but it wasn’t?
Amie indicated that all her needs were met in a satisfactory manner even the health visitor issued her contacts to reach out whenever she needed any professional help.
What would you change about the service if you had the chance?
Concerning the service, all was great and effective but she would change the allocation of health visitors to homes. She indicated that he would map specific patients with certain health visitors to avoid changing health visitors from time to time. Amie also stated that the allocated time of two hours would be made flexible to allow the health visitor to stay longer if the patient still needs their services.
Concerning your experience with health visiting, have you had a chance to give feedback or evaluate the health visitor services?
Amie affirmed that she has provided feedback concerning the services provided to her by the health visitors. She indicated the evaluation of a health visitor on a single interaction is difficult because people behave differently concerning the circumstances presented to them.