Quotes related to the initiation phase of outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT)
| Picker principle | Representative quotes | Patient characteristics (gender, age, weeks of OPAT) |
| Respect | But in such a case, I’d like to see that there is a choice. That it’s explained as, ‘This is what we want to do. What do you think?’ Not: ‘This is what we’re going to do. Period.’ | Male, 52 years, 1 week |
| Emotional support | That was because I was at my wits’ end, the nursing staff themselves arranged to get me an antibiotic device so that I could at least go home on the Sunday afternoon. For a little while. | Female, 71 years, 6 weeks |
| Information | At one point I was rolled away and a PICC was placed. I thought, ‘What’s going on? They could explain a little about how and what?’ But they didn’t. | Female, 70 years, 7 weeks |
| Coordination | Yes, I had the impression that it (OPAT) was hardly ever done in the urology department. Because the doctors, the medical specialists, who… They all tell you something different. Look. If it has occurred more often, and if it has happened to a patient more often, then they start telling you everything all at once… | Male, 52 years, 1 week |
| Involvement of family and friends | My husband came to visit me every morning at nine thirty because that’s when they came round, uh, the doctors and so on. But things just went right over my head, just like that, and then he had stored it all up, and that was certainly important. | Female, 70 years, 3 weeks |
| Involvement of family and friends | If a patient is competent in making decisions, as my father is, then I think if he knows things himself and can tell you, fine, but we must remember that my father is 85, and he can sometimes forget something. So it is always convenient to have an informal caregiver present who can translate that into what is essential, what’s coming our way, and in the current trajectory, what is the best method to deal with it? | Male relative |