Patient Continuity of Care Questionnaire in a cardiac sample: A Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Patient reported experiences of community rehabilitation and/or support services for people with long term neurological conditions: a narrative review of quantitative studies

Objectives: 1. To identify validated quantitative Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREM's) being used in Community Rehabilitation and/or Support services for people with long term neurological conditions (PwLTNC). 2. To explore how data from quantitative PREM's adds to research on patient experiences of Community Rehabilitation and Support for PwLTNC.Method: Eight data bases were searched for peer reviewed studies (2005-2021) which met inclusion criteria. Data extraction and quality assessment for sixteen studies was performed by two reviewers. Narrative synthesis was conducted.Results: Eleven validated PREM's were identified which captured data for 15,831 PwLTNC. PREM scores indicated positive and negative experiences for people with Multiple Sclerosis (n = 13,123), Parkinson's Disease (n = 2215) and Acquired Brain Injury (n = 493). Negative experiences related to Picker Institute Principles: 1 (accessibility); 3 (coordination/continuity); 4 (involvement/support for family and carers); 5 (information provision), 6 (Involvement in decision making) and 7 (empathy and emotional support).Conclusion: Quantitative PREM's provide evidence of process quality and person-centred care within community rehabilitation and support services across large data sets of heterogeneous neurological conditions and geographical locations. Quality improvement initiatives for people with MS, PD and ABI should target processes relating to Picker Institute Principles 1,3,4,5,6, and 7.Implications for RehabilitationQuantitative validated Patient Reported Experience Measures can be used to evaluate process quality and person- centred care within community rehabilitation and support services for people with long term neurological conditions.Experiences of people with Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease and Acquired Brain Injury indicate the need for quality improvement in community rehabilitation.Training in communication skills and person-centred care may enhance information provision and support for self-management for people with long term neurological conditions.

Development and psychometric properties of a short version of the Patient Continuity of Care Questionnaire

INTRODUCTION

Hospitalization due to cardiac conditions is increasing worldwide, and follow-up after hospitalization usually occurs in a different healthcare setting than the one providing treatment during hospitalization. This leads to a risk of fragmented care and increases the need for coordination and continuity of care after hospitalization. Furthermore, international reports highlight the importance of improving continuity of care and state that it is an essential indicator of the quality of care. Patients' perceptions of continuity of care can be evaluated using the Patient Continuity of Care Questionnaire (PCCQ). However, the original version is extensive and may prove burdensome to complete; therefore, we aimed to develop and evaluate a short version of the PCCQ.

METHODS

This was a psychometric validation study. Content validity was evaluated among user groups, including patients (n = 7), healthcare personnel (n = 15), and researchers (n = 7). Based on the results of the content validity and conceptual discussions among the authors, 12 items were included in the short version. Data from patients were collected using a consecutive sampling procedure involving patients 6 weeks after hospitalization due to cardiac conditions. Rasch analysis was used to evaluate the psychometric properties of the short version of the PCCQ.

RESULTS

A total of 1000 patients were included [mean age 72 (SD = 10), 66% males]. The PCCQ-12 presented a satisfactory overall model fit and a person separation index of 0.79 (Cronbach's α: .91, ordinal α: .94). However, three items presented individual item misfits. No evidence of multidimensionality was found, meaning that a total score can be calculated. A total of four items presented evidence of response dependence but, according to the analysis, this did not seem to affect the measurement properties or reliability of the PCCQ-12. We found that the first two response options were disordered in all items. However, the reliability remained the same when these response options were amended. In future research, the benefits of the four response options could be evaluated.

CONCLUSION

The PCCQ-12 has sound psychometric properties and is ready to be used in clinical and research settings to measure patients' perceptions of continuity of care after hospitalization.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Patients, healthcare personnel and researchers were involved in the study because they were invited to select items relevant to the short version of the questionnaire.

Measurement tools that assess the quality of transitional care from patients' perspective: A literature review

AIM

Transitional care is important for improving the quality of life of patients discharged from hospitals. Patient-reported experience measures help improve transitional care quality. Thus, this literature review aimed to identify and appraise measurement tools that assess transitional care quality from the patient's perspective and identify its components.

METHODS

Development and validation studies were systematically searched in the PubMed and CINAHL databases. The review team appraised the methodological quality and statistical results of measurement properties using the COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) methodology.

RESULTS

A total of 30 studies and seven instruments were identified. The target population was patients discharged from hospital to a home or nursing home (mean age = 52-84 years). The measurement time was before or after the discharge. The number of items in the original versions of the measures ranged from eight to 41, with short versions ranging from three to 12. The overall methodological quality of structural validity, internal consistency, and hypotheses testing was mostly "very good or adequate," according to COSMIN criteria. However, content validity and development were mostly "inadequate or doubtful" or not reported. The main components of included measures comprised "self-care after discharge," "providing information to the patient," "patient engagement in the care plan," and "dealing with patient's concerns."

CONCLUSION

The quality appraisal results and identified components are useful for choosing measurement tools in clinical practice and research. The Care Transitions Measure is the most widely validated measurement tool.

Continuity of Care and Self-Management among Patients with Stroke: A Cross-Sectional Study

(1) Background: Stroke is an important topic in the healthcare industry. The objective of the present study was to investigate patients' sociodemographic characteristics, health status, continuity of care, self-management, and other predictors that affect their self-management. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional correlational study was carried out from March to September 2020, and included a total of 150 patients aged 20 and above who were diagnosed within the past 6 months. The research participants were selected from the Division of Neurology, Department of Internal Medicine/Department of Surgery, at a medical center in Central Taiwan. (3) Results: The mean self-management score of patients with stroke was 110.50 points (30-150 points). As shown in the stepwise regression analysis, the overall regression model explained approximately 44.5% of the variance in self-management. Educational level (10.8%), frequency of exercise per week (2.1%), time that patients were affected by stroke (2.4%), and continuity of care (29.2%) were the main predictors affecting the self-management of stroke patients. (4) Conclusions: To improve stroke patients' self-management, medical teams should provide appropriate continuity of care to those with lower educational levels, those without exercise habits, and those who experienced a stroke within the past six months.

Study on the Correlation between Continuity of Care and Quality of Life for Patients with Coronary Heart Disease

Background: As coronary heart disease (CHD) is a highly complex disease, complex continuity of care (CoC) service should be provided for the patients, and the quality of life (QoL) needs to be regarded as an important measuring indicator for the health-care outcome. Purpose: To understand the general situation of CHD QoL and important predictors. Method: A cross-sectional study design was adopted from August 2019 to July 2020 by structured questionnaires. A total of 163 patients were enrolled, and data were statistically analyzed using SPSS 25.0. Result: The average score of the QoL questionnaire is 56.56/80, and the CoC is 4.32. The overall regression model can explain 58.7% of the variance regarding QoL. Patients’ instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) (26.1%), age (18.1%), living situation (7%), information transfer (4.8%), main source of income (1.8%), and risk of disability are significantly different from their overall QoL in depression (0.9%). Conclusions: In order to improve the QoL of patients, it is suggested that medical teams should assess the needs of patients immediately upon hospitalization, provide patients with individual CoC, encourage them to participate in community health promotion activities, and strengthen the function of IADL to improve the QoL of patients.