Co-designing a hospitality program to improve supportive care in oncology

Introduction: Supportive care in oncology aims to provide the necessary services for those living with or affected by cancer to meet their physical, emotional, social, psychological, informational, spiritual and practical needs across the care pathway, with the overall aim to enhance experiences of care. In previous work, we developed the Lausanne Hospitality Model, where we integrated hospitality services inspired by the hotel industry in this supportive care framework, as these services have an impact on the patient experience. Building on this model, we aimed to develop an intervention program to improve hospitality services in a hospital setting. Methods: Qualitative data collected through focus groups and interviews with patients, health and administrative professionals working, and experts in hospitality were analyzed to identify needs in a hospital oncology department. Based on the “Lausanne Hospitality Model”, we co-designed a hospitality intervention in cancer care to reinforce practical, emotional, and informational services offered to patients with cancer. Results: We identified nine unsatisfied needs related to hospitality services for people affected by cancer (e.g., receive information in the event of delays or have easy access to reliable information about their illness). We then co-designed with the patients, health and administrative professionals and hospitality experts a hospitality-focused program with four components to address these needs: a mobile application dedicated to patients; an information kit; hospitality training for oncology teams; a revised integration process for new hospital staff based on the hotel model. The “Lausanne Hospitality Model” offers new insights into the notions of cancer journey, patient experience, services, and the practices that may be involved when facilitating hospitality. Conclusion: Our study provides insights into unmet hospitality needs and how to address them with a hospitality program co-designed with patients, hospital professionals and hospitality experts. Improving the services offered to patients is an important lever for enhancing their experiences and, by extension, optimizing communication between patients and professionals, supporting the work of administrative teams, strengthening tools to facilitate patients’ care pathway and providing better overall cancer care.