Patient Experience Shows Little Relationship with Hospital Quality Management Strategies

The uses of Patient Reported Experience Measures in health systems: A systematic narrative review

BACKGROUND

Many governments have programmes collecting and reporting patient experience data, captured through Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs). Our study aims to capture and describe all the ways in which PREM data are used within healthcare systems, and explore the impacts of using PREMs at one level (e.g. national health system strategy) on other levels (e.g. providers).

METHODS

We conducted a narrative review, underpinned by a systematic search of the literature.

RESULTS

1,711 unique entries were identified through the search process. After abstract screening, 142 articles were reviewed in full, resulting in 28 for final inclusion. A majority of papers describe uses of PREMs at the micro level, focussed on improving quality of front-line care. Meso-level uses were in quality-based financing or for performance improvement. Few macro-level uses were identified. We found limited evidence of the impact of meso‑ and macro- efforts to stimulate action to improve patient experience at the micro-level.

CONCLUSIONS

PREM data are used as performance information at all levels in health systems. The use of PREM data at macro- and meso‑ levels may have an effect in stimulating action at the micro-level, but there is a lack of systematic evidence, or evaluation of these micro-level actions. Longitudinal studies would help better understand how to improve patient experience, and interfaces between PREM scores and the wider associated positive outcomes.

The Impact of Patient Experience on Loyalty in the Context of Medical-Aesthetic Health Services

The purpose of this study was to determine the antecedents and consequences of patient experience in the context of medical-aesthetic health services. A quantitative study was conducted and data was collected through online surveys. Moreover, data were provided in the field via the administration of questionnaires to patients of medical clinics. The data were analyzed according to structural equation modeling procedures. The results showed that both the relational (communication and involvement) and functional (environment, tangibles, processes, outcomes, competence, monetary cost) dimensions of care have a direct and positive impact on customer experience (CE). This study shows the prevalence of the functional dimension when compared to the relational one, which more strongly influences a patient’s CE. Moreover, CE positively impacts perceived quality, overall satisfaction, and loyalty behaviors.

Measuring patient centeredness with German language Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREM)-A systematic review and qualitative analysis according to COSMIN

BACKGROUND

Patient centeredness is an integral part of the quality of care. Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) are assumed to be an appropriate tool to assess patient-centredness. An evaluation of German-speaking PREMs is lacking.

OBJECTIVE

To perform a systematic review and qualitative analysis of psychometric measurement qualities of German-language PREMs using for the first time a comprehensive framework of patient centredness.

METHODS

A systematic literature search was performed in Medline, PsycInfo, CINHAL, Embase, Cochrane database (last search 9th November 2021) for studies describing generic, surgery- or cancer care-specific PREMs. All questionnaires that were developed in or translated into German were included. The content of the included PREMs was evaluated using a comprehensive framework of patient centredness covering 16 domains. Baseline data of all PREM studies were extracted by two independent reviewers. Psychometric measurement qualities of the PREMs were assessed using current COSMIN guidelines.

RESULTS

After removal of duplicates 3,457 abstracts were screened, of which 3,345 were excluded. The remaining 112 articles contained 51 PREMs, of which 12 were either developed in (4 PREMs) or translated into German (8 PREMs). Eight PREMs were generic (NORPEQ, PPE-15, PEACS, HCAHPS, QPPS, DUQUE, PEQ-G, Schoenfelder et al.), 4 cancer care-specific (EORTC IN-PATSAT32, PSCC-G, Danish National Cancer Questionnaire, SCCC) and none was surgery-specific. None of the PREMs covered all domains of patient-centeredness. Overall rating of structural validity was adequate only for PEACS and HCAHPS. High ratings for internal consistency were given for NORPEQ, Schoenfelder et al., PSCC-G and the SCCC. Cross-cultural validity for translated questionnaires was adequate only for the PSCC-G, while reliability was adequately assessed only for the EORTC IN-PATSAT32. Due to a lack of measurement gold standard and minimal important change, criterion validity and measurement invariance could not be assessed for any of the PREMs.

CONCLUSION

This is the first systematic review using a comprehensive framework of patient centredness and shows that none of the included PREMs, even those translated from other languages into German, cover all aspects of patient centredness. Furthermore, all included PREMS show deficits in the results or evaluation of psychometric measurement properties. Nonetheless, based on the results, the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 and PSCC-G can be recommended for use in cancer patients in the German-language region, while the German versions of the HCAHPS, NORPEQ, PPE-15 and PEACS can be recommended as generic PREMs.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

Registration. PROSPERO CRD42021276827.

Patient and Caregiver Prioritization of Palliative and End-of-Life Cancer Care Quality Measures

BACKGROUND

Development and prioritization of quality measures typically relies on experts in clinical medicine, but patients and their caregivers may have different perspectives on quality measurement priorities.

OBJECTIVE

To inform priorities for health system implementation of palliative cancer and end-of-life care quality measures by eliciting perspectives of patients and caregivers.

DESIGN

Using modified RAND-UCLA Appropriateness Panel methods and materials tailored for knowledgeable lay participants, we convened a panel to rate cancer palliative care process quality measure concepts before and after a 1-day, in-person meeting.

PARTICIPANTS

Nine patients and caregivers with experience living with or caring for patients with cancer.

MAIN MEASURES

Panelists rated each concept on importance for providing patient- and family-centered care on a nine-point scale and each panelist nominated five highest priority measure concepts ("top 5").

KEY RESULTS

Cancer patient and caregiver panelists rated all measure concepts presented as highly important to patient- and family- centered care (median rating ≥ 7) in pre-panel (mean rating range, 6.9-8.8) and post-panel ratings (mean rating range, 7.2-8.9). Forced choice nominations of the "top 5" helped distinguish similarly rated measure concepts. Measure concepts nominated into the "top 5" by three or more panelists included two measure concepts of communication (goals of care discussions and discussion of prognosis), one measure concept on providing comprehensive assessments of patients, and three on symptoms including pain management plans, improvement in pain, and depression management plans. Patients and caregivers nominated one additional measure concept (pain screening) back into consideration, bringing the total number of measure concepts under consideration to 21.

CONCLUSIONS

Input from cancer patients and caregivers helped identify quality measurement priorities for health system implementation. Forced choice nominations were useful to discriminate concepts with the highest perceived importance. Our approach serves as a model for incorporating patient and caregiver priorities in quality measure development and implementation.

Collaborative research protocol to define patient-reported experience measures of the cystic fibrosis care pathway in France: the ExPaParM study

Introduction

In France, the cystic fibrosis (CF) care pathway is coordinated by multidisciplinary teams from specialised CF centres or transplant centres. It includes the care provided at home or out of hospital, risk prevention in daily life and adjustments to social life, which together contribute to the person’s quality of life. Patient experience is used to describe and evaluate the care and life of patients living with the disease.

Objectives

Our collaborative research aims to identify the most significant areas and criteria that characterise the CF pathway. It will lead to the development of a questionnaire to collect patients' experience, which can be administered to all patients or parents of children registered and followed in the centres. The article describes the protocol developed in partnership with patients and parents of children living with the disease.

Method

A multidisciplinary research group brings together researchers, patients, parents of children with CF and health care professionals. The patient partnership is involved in the 4 phases of the protocol: (1) setting up the study, recruiting patient and parent co-researchers, training them in qualitative research methods, defining the situations and profiles of patients in the study population, elaborating the protocol; (2) selecting the study sites, recruiting participants, carrying out semi-structured interviews, analysing verbatims using the grounded theory approach; (3) co-elaborating Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREM) questionnaires adapted to the 4 types of participants: parents, adolescents, non-transplanted adults and transplanted adults; (4) validating the construct with participants and professionals from the study centres.

Results

The protocol obtained a favourable opinion from the Ethics Evaluation Committee of INSERM (IRB00003888—no. 20-700). Training was provided to the 5 patients and 2 parent co-researchers to enable them to participate effectively in the research. Eleven centres participated in the recruitment of participants in mainland France and Reunion Island. Eighty hours of interviews were conducted.

Discussion

The PREM questionnaires to be elaborated will have to undergo psychometric validation before being used by the actors of the CF network to assess the impact on the care pathways of quality approaches or new therapies available in cystic fibrosis.

Trial Registration Registry: IRB00003888 – no. 20-700. Issue date: 06/09/2020.

Safety climate, leadership and patient views associated with hip fracture care quality and clinician perceptions of hip fracture care performance

BACKGROUND

Hip fracture is a major public health concern for older adults, requiring surgical treatment for patients presenting at hospitals across Australia. Although guidelines have been developed to drive appropriate care of hip fracture patients in hospitals, data on health outcomes suggest these are not well-followed.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to examine whether clinician measures of safety, teamwork and leadership, and patient perceptions of care are associated with key indicators of hip fracture care and the extent to which there is agreement between clinician perceptions of hip fracture care performance and actual hospital performance of hip fracture care.

METHODS

Retrospective analysis was performed on a series of questionnaires used to assess hospital department- and patient-level measures from the Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia study. Data were analysed from 32 public hospitals that encompassed 23 leading hip fracture clinicians, 716 patient medical records and 857 patients from orthopaedic public hospital wards.

RESULTS

Aggregated across all hospitals, only 5 of 12 of the key hip fracture indicators had ≥50% adherence. Adherence to indicators requiring actions to be performed within a recommended time period was poor (7.2-25.6%). No Patient Measure of Safety or clinician-based measures of teamwork, safety climate or leadership were associated with adherence to key indicators of hip fracture care. Simple proportionate agreement between clinician perceptions and actual hospital performance was generally strong, but few agreement coefficients were compelling.

CONCLUSION

The development of strong quality management processes requires ongoing effort. The findings of this study provide important insights into the relationship between hospital care and outcomes for hip fracture patients and could drive the design of targeted interventions for improved quality assurance of hip fracture care.

Development and validation of a questionnaire for assessing patients´ perceptions of interprofessional integration in health care

The integration of care between primary, secondary, tertiary health care and social care needs to be interprofessional and patient-centered. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire for measuring patients' perception of integration across health care teams and social services. Data for psychometric assessment of our questionnaire were collected from patients who attended at eleven Primary Care Centers and one tertiary referral Hospital in Spain from March to October 2018. The questionnaire was tested in a pilot study with 40 patients before being administered in a sample of 279 patients. The questionnaires were distributed in urban Health Centers, peri-urban or rural Health Centers (67%) and a tertiary referral hospital (33%). The questionnaire included 9 items that measured patient perceived experiences about care coordination, data accessibility and delivery of clinical information. The model explained 51% of the variation in the data and Cronbach's alpha was 0.8. Two factors comprising perception of coordination and assessment of patient-centered care were identified. The overall perception for integration was low. The reliability and validation of our questionnaire showed its potential as a valuable instrument for assessing patients' perception of the integration of care and can be used within the quality metrics to assess the success of integrated health care management programs.

Patient-Reported Experience Measures in Stroke Care: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) assess patients' perception of health care. We aimed to identify all reported PREMs for stroke care and critically appraise psychometric properties of PREMs validated for patients with stroke.

METHODS

Studies on the development, validation, or utilization of PREMs for adult patients with stroke were systematically identified. The Consensus-Based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments criteria were used to appraise psychometric performance.

RESULTS

We included 18 studies, examining 13 PREMs. Two PREMs had been developed for stroke care: Consumer Quality Index: Cerebrovascular Accident and Riksstroke. Consumer Quality Index: Cerebrovascular Accident was given a positive psychometric assessment, but its length and limited language applicability impede clinical implementation. Riksstroke was appraised as doubtful. Eleven PREMs were generic. The psychometric performance of 5 generic PREMS, validated for patients with stroke, received conflicting assessments. Six generic PREMs had not been validated in patients with stroke and were therefore not assessed for instrument performance.

CONCLUSIONS

Thirteen PREMs have been published for use in stroke care. The stroke-specific Consumer Quality Index: Cerebrovascular Accident has favorable psychometric performance but lacks practical feasibility. Other PREMs have inadequate or unknown psychometric properties. This indicates the need for developing stroke-specific PREMs to support quality improvement and enhance patient-centered care.

What are the prevalence and predictors of psychosocial healthcare among patients with heart disease? A nationwide population-based cohort study

OBJECTIVES

Psychosocial healthcare is recommended, but little is known about how patients perceive the level of care and whether subgroups of patients experience less psychosocial healthcare than others. We examined the prevalence of patient-reported psychosocial healthcare and factors predicting patient-reported lack of psychosocial healthcare among patients with heart disease.

DESIGN

A cohort study.

SETTING

Denmark, nationwide.

PARTICIPANTS

A registry-based random sample of 5000 patients with incident heart disease in 2013.

MEASURES

Patient-reported psychosocial healthcare was obtained from a survey and potential predictors before disease onset from registries. We used multivariable logistic regression analysis to determine predictors of patient-reported lack of care.

RESULTS

We received responses from 56%; 40% reported lacking information on psychosocial aspects, 51% lacking psychosocial rehabilitation and support and 32% reported lacking both types of psychosocial healthcare. The type of heart disease was the strongest predictor of patient-reported lack of psychosocial healthcare, especially among patients with atrial fibrillation (OR: 3.11-3.98). Older age (OR: 1.48-2.05), female gender (OR: 1.27-1.53) and no contact with general practitioner (OR: 1.47-1.84) also predicted patient-reported lack of psychosocial healthcare. Patients outside the labour force (OR: 1.29) and living in the capital region (OR: 1.50) more frequently reported lacking psychosocial rehabilitation and support, and patients with recent (OR: 1.63) or past (OR: 1.33) anxiety or depression and severe comorbidities (OR: 1.34) more frequently reported lacking both types of psychosocial healthcare.

CONCLUSIONS

Many patients with heart disease reported lacking psychosocial healthcare. Importantly, patients who most need psychosocial healthcare are not those who report receiving it. Our results call for action to translate guidelines into clinical practice.

Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA): An overview of a nation-wide, multi-level analysis of relationships between quality management systems and patient factors in 32 hospitals

OBJECTIVE

The Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA) project is a multisite, multi-level, cross-sectional study of 32 of the largest hospitals in Australia. This overview examines relationships between (i) organization-level quality management systems and department-level quality management strategies and (ii) patient-level measures (clinical treatment processes, patient-reported perceptions of care and clinical outcomes) within Australian hospitals.

DESIGN

We examined hospital quality improvement structures, processes and outcomes, collecting data at organization, department and patient levels for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), hip fracture and stroke. Data sources included surveys of quality managers, clinicians and patients, hospital visits, medical record reviews and national databases. Outcomes data and patient admissions data were analysed. Relationships between measures were evaluated using multi-level models. We based the methods on the Deepening our Understanding of Quality Improvement in Europe (DUQuE) framework, extending that work in parts and customizing the design to Australian circumstances.

SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND OUTCOME MEASURES

The 32 hospitals, containing 119 participating departments, provided wide representation across metropolitan, inner and outer regional Australia. We obtained 31 quality management, 1334 clinician and 857 patient questionnaires, and conducted 2401 medical record reviews and 151 external assessments. External data via a secondary source comprised 14 460 index patient admissions across 14 031 individual patients. Associations between hospital, Emergency Department (ED) and department-level systems and strategies and five patient-level outcomes were assessed: 19 of 165 associations (11.5%) were statistically significant, 12 of 79 positive associations (15.2%) and 7 of 85 negative associations (8.2%).

RESULTS

We did not find clear relationships between hospital-level quality management systems, ED or department quality strategies and patient-level outcomes. ED-level clinical reviews were related to adherence to clinical practice guidelines for AMI, hip fracture and stroke, but in different directions. The results, when considered alongside the DUQuE results, are suggestive that front line interventions may be more influential than department-level interventions when shaping quality of care and that multi-pronged strategies are needed. Benchmark reports were sent to each participating hospital, stimulating targeted quality improvement activities.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no compelling relationships between the way care is organized and the quality of care across three targeted patient-level outcome conditions. The study was cross-sectional, and thus we recommend that the relationships studied should be assessed for changes across time. Tracking care longitudinally so that quality improvement activities are monitored and fed back to participants is an important initiative that should be given priority as health systems strive to develop their capacity for quality improvement over time.

Patients' perceptions with musculoskeletal disorders regarding their experience with healthcare providers and health services: an overview of reviews

Objectives

This overview of reviews aimed to identify (1) aspects of the patient experience when seeking care for musculoskeletal disorders from healthcare providers and the healthcare system, and (2) which mechanisms are used to measure aspects of the patient experience.

Data sources

Four databases were searched from inception to December 20th, 2019.

Review methods

Systematic or scoping reviews examining patient experience in seeking care for musculoskeletal from healthcare providers and the healthcare system were included. Independent authors screened and selected studies, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of the reviews. Patient experience concepts were compiled into five themes from a perspective of a) relational and b) functional aspects. A list of mechanisms used to capture the patient experience was also collected.

Results

Thirty reviews were included (18 systematic and 12 scoping reviews). Relational aspects were reported in 29 reviews and functional aspects in 25 reviews. For relational aspects, the most prevalent themes were “information needs” (education and explanation on diseases, symptoms, and self-management strategies) and “understanding patient expectations” (respect and empathy). For functional aspects, the most prevalent themes were patient’s “physical and environmental needs,” (cleanliness, safety, and accessibility of clinics), and “trusted expertise,” (healthcare providers’ competence and clinical skills to provide holistic care). Interviews were the most frequent mechanism identified to collect patient experience.

Conclusions

Measuring patient experience provides direct insights about the patient’s perspectives and may help to promote better patient-centered health services and increase the quality of care. Areas of improvement identified were interpersonal skills of healthcare providers and logistics of health delivery, which may lead to a more desirable patient-perceived experience and thus better overall healthcare outcomes.

Trial registration

Systematic review registration: PROSPERO (CRD42019136500).

Analysis of adherence to HIV-positive quality of care indicators and their impact on service quality perceptions in patients: a Spanish cross-sectional study

Background

Since the identification of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, there have been significant advances in its diagnosis and treatment, but there have been few contributions to the area of care quality. In 2010, the Spanish AIDS Study Group (GeSIDA) published the document “Health quality indicators of GeSIDA for the care of people infected with HIV/AIDS” in which standards are proposed for the purpose of improving and standardizing the assistance provided to people infected with HIV. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the degree of compliance with these indicators and to analyse whether adherence to the standards improves patient perception of care quality in terms of their satisfaction with the health care they have received.

Methods

Compliance with GeSIDA indicators was analysed within a cohort of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in a hospital in the Madrid region. To evaluate patient perception, the External Consultation User Satisfaction Questionnaire (SUCE) was used, which is a tool that was previously validated in the Spanish population.

Results

A total of 334 patients were included. The level of adherence to the indicators was 74.46%. The score on the SUCE questionnaire was 9.04 out of 10 (CI 95%: 8.90–9.19). Of the 47 indicators assessed, only 4 were related to satisfaction with health care.

Conclusions

The levels of compliance with the indicators and patient satisfaction with health care were high. Adherence to quality indicators showed little relation to patient-reported satisfaction.

Psychometric Properties of the Filipino Version of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS): A Cross-Cultural Validation Study

Albeit the importance of patient experience, most questionnaires are only available in English. To understand the hospital experience of Filipino patients, a psychometrically sound instrument in Filipino is warranted. This study culturally adapted and validated the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) into Filipino. A 5-step cross-cultural validation process was conducted. Forward translation, back-translation, and panel reconciliation involved 7 language experts. Pretesting included content validation and pretesting of the Filipino HCAHPS, while field testing involved 64 purposively selected hospitalized patients who completed a 4-part survey from July to December 2018. Content, linguistic, and conceptual equivalence and internal consistency were statistically appraised. Content validation yielded a scale content validity index/average of 1.00. Comparative analysis and Bland-Altman plots indicated good linguistic equivalence. All correlation coefficients were ≥.30, denoting good conceptual equivalence. Cronbach’s α for both versions of HCAHPS were ≥0.80, suggestive of good internal consistency. The Filipino HCAHPS is a psychometrically sound and culturally appropriate tool to measure patient experience among Filipinos. This understanding can be utilized for quality improvements on both practice and policy levels.

Validation of the patient measure of safety (PMOS) questionnaire in Australian public hospitals

Objective

Patients can provide a unique perspective on the safety of care in hospitals. Understanding that the extent to which the way hospitals are organized for quality and safety is associated with patient perceptions of care is becoming increasingly valued and necessary for the direction of targeted interventions across healthcare systems. The UK-developed patient measure of safety (PMOS) assesses eight domains of ward safety from the patient point of view and has recently been adapted and piloted in Australia. The aim of this study is to test the psychometric properties of PMOS-Australia (PMOS-A) amongst a large cohort of hospitalized patients.

Design

Cross-sectional questionnaire validation assessment.

Setting and participants

As part of the DUQuA project, the PMOS-A survey was distributed within acute myocardial infarction, hip fracture and stroke departments across 32 large public hospitals in Australia. Patients could complete the PMOS-A independently, or request the assistance of a family member/guardian, or staff on the wards—space was included to record mode of completion.

Main outcome measures

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was undertaken on a calibration sample to generate the model, and a validation sample was used to cross-validate the model. A subset of only those participants who received assistance for PMOS-A completion was also tested using CFA on a calibration and validation sample. Model fit indices (chi-square to degrees of freedom ratio [Chi-square:DF], root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA], comparative fit indices [CFI], standardized root mean squared residual [SRMR]), Cronbach’s α, average inter-item correlations, construct reliability and cross-loadings were examined with reference to recommended thresholds to establish the extent of convergent validity and discriminant validity. A marker of criterion validity was assessed through testing associations between the PMOS-A and adherence to clinical guidelines.

Results

Across the calibration and validation samples of the full (N = 911) and assisted completers only subset (N = 490), three (Chi-square:DF, SRMR, RMSEA) of the four indices consistently or almost always met thresholds for acceptable model fit. CFI indices did not meet the recommended limits (0.72–0.78, against a target > 0.9). Positive relationships were found for all tests between PMOS-A and adherence to clinical guidelines, and these were significant when assessed in the calibration datasets for the full and assisted completion samples.

Conclusion

A sufficiently reliable and valid measure of patient perceptions of safety has been developed. These findings should provide adequate support to justify the use of this measure to assess patient perceptions of safety in Australian hospitals and can be modified for use elsewhere.

Patient and caregiver experiences on care transitions for adults with a hip fracture: a scoping review

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review was to explore the literature on experiences and perspectives of patients with hip fractures and their caregivers during transitions in care.Methods: Seven databases were searched for studies published between 1 January 2000 and 3 July 2018. Grey literature was also searched.Results: Eleven articles met the inclusion criteria. The scoping review found that patients and caregivers encounter several challenges during care transitions including the following: lack of information sharing, role confusion and disorganized discharge planning. Common suggestions reported in the literature for improving care transitions were: increasing written communication, offering a patient representative role, using technology for knowledge dissemination and increasing geriatrician involvement.Conclusions: The results of this scoping review provide a useful foundation from which to build strategies to address challenges such as lack of information sharing, role confusion and disorganized discharge planning experienced by patients and caregivers during care transitions. Further research needs to explore the development of strategies to promote patient-centered care especially during discharge from an acute care facility.Implications for rehabilitationEncourage health care providers to collaborate with patients with hip fracture and caregivers on decision-making about rehabilitation and recovery goals, discharge planning and safe patient transfer.Assess the needs of patients with hip fracture and caregivers before, during and after a care transition to deliver patient and family-centered care across multiple care settings.Provide patients with hip fracture and caregivers standardized information-exchange tools to increase timely, accurate exchange of information during care transitions.Encourage formal discussions about roles and responsibilities in the transitions in care process among patients with hip fracture, caregivers and health care providers.

Assessing cancer pain-the first step toward improving patients' quality of life

PURPOSE

Numerous studies on cancer patients have shown that cancer pain still remains underestimated, poorly assessed, and under-treated. Pain relief should be considered as early as possible within personalized care and as an integral part of quality healthcare in many countries. Nevertheless, personalized care is still insufficiently taken into consideration, partly due to improper or incomplete assessment of cancer pain. The objective of this article is to propose a practical approach to this complex assessment, as the first step to improving patients' quality of life.

METHODS

Critical reflection based on literature analysis and clinical practice.

RESULTS

Assessment of cancer pain means evaluating the pain intensity over time, the dimensions of pain (sensory-discriminative, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral), the pathophysiological nature of pain (neuropathic, nociceptive, and nociplastic), the etiology, and the patient's perception (diffuse, localized, global). Cancer patients may have simple or multiple forms of pain (mixed, overlapped, combined, and associated). Furthermore, with the use of new specific therapies, the symptomatology of pain is also changing, and certain cancers are becoming chronic. Thus, cancer pain is an archetype of multimorphic pain, and its dynamic assessments (regular and repeated) require a multimodal and targeted approach in order to offer personalized pain management. Multimodal pain treatment must be adapted to the elements that disrupt cancer pain, to the patient's cancer and to the specific treatments.

CONCLUSIONS

The dynamic assessments of pain demand the simplest, and the most complete possible procedure, to avoid feasibility problems or self-/hetero-assessment excesses that might lead to less precise and less reliable results. Multimodal and interdisciplinary approaches are being developed, making it possible to optimize cancer pain management.

Patient-Reported Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease and Kidney Transplant-Part 1

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a complex medical condition that is associated with several comorbidities and requires comprehensive medical management. Given the chronic nature of the condition, its frequent association with psychosocial distress, and its very significant symptom burden, the subjective patient experience is key toward understanding the true impact of CKD on the patients’ life. Patient-reported outcome measures are important tools that can be used to support patient-centered care and patient engagement during the complex management of patients with CKD. The routine collection and use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical practice may improve quality of care and outcomes, and may provide useful data to understand the disease from both an individual and a population perspective. Many tools used to measure PROs focus on assessing health-related quality of life, which is significantly impaired among patients with CKD. Health-related quality of life, in addition to being an important outcome itself, is associated with clinical outcomes such as health care use and mortality. In Part 1 of this review, we provide an overview of PROs and implications of their use in the context of CKD. In Part 2, we will review the selection of appropriate measures and the relevant domains of interest for patients with CKD.

Descriptive study of association between quality of care and empathy and burnout in primary care

Background

The doctor-patient relationship is a crucial aspect of primary-care practice Research on associations between quality of care provision and burnout and empathy in a primary care setting could improve this relationship.

Methods

Cross-sectional study of family physicians (108) and nurses (112) of twenty-two primary care centers in the health district of Lleida, Spain.

Empathy and burnout were measured using the Jefferson Physician Empathy Scale and the Maslach Burnout Inventory, while quality of care delivery was evaluated using Quality Standard Indicator scores. JPSE and MBI results were grouped into low, medium, and high scores to analyze associations with QSI scores and sociodemographic variables.

Results

The mean QSI score recorded for the family physicians and nurses was 665 (out of a total of 1000). Higher, albeit insignificant, QSI scores were observed for practitioners with high burnout. No differences were observed according to level of empathy (p > 0.05). The differences with respect to sex, age, and area of practice (urban vs rural center) were not significant. Practitioners with low empathy had higher QSI scores than those with high empathy (672.8 vs. 654.4) while those with high burnout had higher scores than those with low burnout (702 vs. 671).

Conclusions

Burnout and empathy did not significantly influence quality of care delivery scores in 22 primary care centers. More studies, however, are needed to investigate the unexpected trend observed that suggests that physicians and nurses with higher levels of burnout provide higher quality care.

Parent and Provider Experience and Shared Understanding After a Family-Centered Nighttime Communication Intervention

OBJECTIVE

To assess parent and provider experience and shared understanding after a family-centered, multidisciplinary nighttime communication intervention (nurse-physician brief, family huddle, family update sheet).

METHODS

We performed a prospective intervention study at a children's hospital from May 2013 to October 2013 (preintervention period) and May 2014 to October 2014 (postintervention period). Participants included 464 parents, 176 nurses, and 52 resident physicians of 582 hospitalized 0- to 17-year-old patients. Pre- versus postintervention, we compared parent/provider top-box scores (eg, "excellent") for experience with communication across several domains; and level of agreement (shared understanding) between parent, nurse, and resident reports of patients' reason for admission, overnight medical plan, and overall medical plan, as rated independently by blinded clinician reviewers (agreement = 74.7%, kappa = .60).

RESULTS

Top-box parent experience improved for 1 of 4 domains: Experience and Communication With Nighttime Doctors (23.6% to 31.5%). Top-box provider experience improved for all 3 domains, including Communication and Shared Understanding With Families (resident rated, 16.5% to 35.1%; nurse rated, 32.2% to 37.9%) and Experience, Communication, and Shared Understanding With Other Providers (resident rated, 20.3% to 35.0%; nurse rated, 14.7% to 21.5%). Independently rated shared understanding remained unchanged for most domains but improved for parent-nurse composite shared understanding (summed agreement for reason for admission, overall plan, and overnight plan; 36.2% to 48.2%) and nurse-resident shared understanding regarding reason for admission (67.1% to 71.2%) and regarding overall medical plan (45.0% to 58.6%). All P <.05.

CONCLUSIONS

A family-centered, multidisciplinary nighttime communication intervention was associated with improvements in some, but not all, domains of parent/provider experience and shared understanding, particularly provider experience and nurse-family shared understanding. The intervention was promising but requires further refinement.

Envolvimento dos pacientes no gerenciamento da qualidade dos serviços de saúde

Resumo Objetivo: Identificar o estágio de envolvimento dos pacientes nas Instituições de saúde brasileiras, nos programas de melhoria da qualidade e segurança. Métodos: Abordagem quantitativa, através de uma pesquisa de avaliação com 141 Instituições, localizadas em 18 estados e no Distrito Federal, no período de fevereiro a maio de 2016. Para coleta dos dados foi aplicado um questionário pela web, utilizando o software de questionários e pesquisas SurveyMonkeyÓ. No questionário, além das perguntas para caracterização das Instituições e dos respondentes, sete perguntas foram relacionadas às atividades de participação dos pacientes nos processos de gerenciamento da qualidade. Resultados: As atividades realizadas pela maior parte das Instituições foram “pesquisa de satisfação dos pacientes” e “processo formal para comunicação com os pacientes em relação às suas dúvidas, sugestões e reclamações”. A média de atividades realizadas foi de 3,84 de um total de 7 atividades avaliadas. Conclusão: Considerando uma escala de 0 a 3, aproximadamente 70% das Instituições foram classificadas entre os estágios 0 (paciente não é envolvido) e 1 (participação na avaliação das metas de qualidade).

Development and Validation of an Instrument for Assessing Patient Experience of Chronic Illness Care

Introduction:

The experience of chronic patients with the care they receive, fuelled by the focus on patient-centeredness and the increasing evidence on its positive relation with other dimensions of quality, is being acknowledged as a key element in improving the quality of care. There are a dearth of accepted tools and metrics to assess patient experience from the patient’s perspective that have been adapted to the new chronic care context: continued, systemic, with multidisciplinary teams and new technologies.

Methods:

Development and validation of a scale conducting a literature review, expert panel, pilot and field studies with 356 chronic primary care patients, to assess content and face validities and reliability.

Results:

IEXPAC is an 11+1 item scale with adequate metric properties measured by Alpha Chronbach, Goodness of fit index, and satisfactory convergence validity around three factors named: productive interactions, new relational model and person’s self-management.

Conclusions:

IEXPAC allows measurement of the patient experience of chronic illness care. Together with other indicators, IEXPAC can determine the quality of care provided according to the Triple Aim framework, facilitating health systems reorientation towards integrated patient-centred care.

Older, vulnerable patient view: a pilot and feasibility study of the patient measure of safety (PMOS) with patients in Australia

OBJECTIVES

The UK-developed patient measure of safety (PMOS) is a validated tool which captures patient perceptions of safety in hospitals. We aimed (1) to investigate the extent to which the PMOS is appropriate for use with stroke, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and hip fracture patients in Australian hospitals and (2) to pilot the PMOS for use in a large-scale, national study 'Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia' (DUQuA).

PARTICIPANTS

Stroke, AMI and hip fracture patients (n=34) receiving care in 3 wards in 1 large hospital.

METHODS

2 phases were conducted. First, a 'think aloud' study was used to determine the validity of PMOS with this population in an international setting, and to make amendments based on patient feedback. The second phase tested the revised measure to establish the internal consistency reliability of the revised subscales, and piloted the recruitment and administration processes to ensure feasibility of the PMOS for use in DUQuA.

RESULTS

Of the 43 questions in the PMOS, 13 (30%) were amended based on issues patients highlighted for improvement in phase 1. In phase 2, a total of 34 patients were approached and 29 included, with a mean age of 71.3 years (SD=16.39). Internal consistency reliability was established using interitem correlation and Cronbach's α for all but 1 subscale. The most and least favourably rated aspects of safety differed between the 3 wards. A study log was categorised into 10 key feasibility factors, including liaising with wards to understand operational procedures and identify patterns of patient discharge.

CONCLUSIONS

Capturing patient perceptions of care is crucial in improving patient safety. The revised PMOS is appropriate for use with vulnerable older adult groups. The findings from this study have informed key decisions made for the deployment of this measure as part of the DUQuA study.

Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA): a study protocol for a nationwide, multilevel analysis of relationships between hospital quality management systems and patient factors

INTRODUCTION

Despite the growing body of research on quality and safety in healthcare, there is little evidence of the association between the way hospitals are organised for quality and patient factors, limiting our understanding of how to effect large-scale change. The 'Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia' (DUQuA) study aims to measure and examine relationships between (1) organisation and department-level quality management systems (QMS), clinician leadership and culture, and (2) clinical treatment processes, clinical outcomes and patient-reported perceptions of care within Australian hospitals.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

The DUQuA project is a national, multilevel, cross-sectional study with data collection at organisation (hospital), department, professional and patient levels. Sample size calculations indicate a minimum of 43 hospitals are required to adequately power the study. To allow for rejection and attrition, 70 hospitals across all Australian jurisdictions that meet the inclusion criteria will be invited to participate. Participants will consist of hospital quality management professionals; clinicians; and patients with stroke, acute myocardial infarction and hip fracture. Organisation and department-level QMS, clinician leadership and culture, patient perceptions of safety, clinical treatment processes, and patient outcomes will be assessed using validated, evidence-based or consensus-based measurement tools. Data analysis will consist of simple correlations, linear and logistic regression and multilevel modelling. Multilevel modelling methods will enable identification of the amount of variation in outcomes attributed to the hospital and department levels, and the factors contributing to this variation.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

Ethical approval has been obtained. Results will be disseminated to individual hospitals in de-identified national and international benchmarking reports with data-driven recommendations. This ground-breaking national study has the potential to influence decision-making on the implementation of quality and safety systems and processes in Australian and international hospitals.