Patient orientation in public hospitals: A marketing device as compromise between worlds

Abstract

The concept of patient centricity has spread for several years in hospitals where, under the expression patient-centered care (PCC), it contributes to introducing a marketing logic in a new environment. However, beyond the intention to transform the patient as an object into a patient as a subject, this concept remains difficult to define. A review of the literature shows a diversity of approaches that are echoed in practice. This article draws on the economies of worth to examine how these conceptions collide but also reconcile. It relies on the study of an emblematic case, the orthopedic surgery department of a large Parisian public hospital (3 weeks of observation and 43 interviews). The research shows that PCC is built sequentially in a shared experience involving patients, caregivers, and management. The article defines PCC as a marketing device resulting from compromises between different conventions and provides evolution scenarios.