As recipients of healthcare, patients provide invaluable contributions when assessing quality. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe how patients experienced quality of care during their stay in a Norwegian hospital. In this study, 39 patients were interviewed. The data were analyzed via conventional content analysis. The results showed that patients' experiences of quality were associated with interactions with medical staff, while their physical surroundings had less of an impact. The quality of healthcare was described on a continuum from good to bad. Patients assessed quality positively when they felt they were taken care of. The feeling of not being taken care of provoked feelings of insecurity, resignation, being "overlooked", and inferiority. A prerequisite for patients to feel cared for was staff presence, which enabled and encouraged patients to share their thoughts. This required medical staff to have competency, interpersonal skills, and time accessibility. In addition, a culture that is person-oriented and not task-oriented was valued. From our study, we see the opportunity within healthcare systems to improve the quality of care by having staff engage in active listening, promote an environment of mutual respect, and encourage active participation from patients in their healthcare decisions and plans. This study was prospectively registered with the Norwegian Social Science Data Services on 9 July 2015 with registration number 44034.
Keywords: conventional content analysis; healthcare quality; hospital; patient perspective.