Are patient surveys valuable as a service-improvement tool in health services? An overview

Abstract

Improving the quality of care in international health services was made a high priority in 1977. The World Health Assembly passed a resolution to greatly improve "Health for all" by the year 2000. Since 1977, the use of patient surveys for quality improvement has become a common practice in the health-care industry. The use of surveys reflects the concept that patient satisfaction is closely linked with that of organizational performance, which is in turn closely linked with organizational culture. This article is a review of the role of patient surveys as a quality-improvement tool in health care. The article explores the characteristics, types, merits, and pitfalls of various patient surveys, as well as the impact of their wide-ranging application in dissimilar scenarios to identify gaps in service provision. It is demonstrated that the conducting of patient surveys and using the results to improve the quality of care are two different processes. The value of patient surveys depends on the interplay between these two processes and several other factors that can influence the final outcome. The article also discusses the business aspect of the patient surveys in detail. Finally, the authors make future recommendations on how the patient survey tool can be best used to improve the quality of care in the health-care sector.

Implementing Trauma-Informed Care: Recommendations on the Process

“…When an agency's service population are included in a large survey process, the intention is admirable but the data can be misleading. Consumer satisfaction surveys are known to have a strong positive response bias in most cases (Fowler, 2013;Patwardhan & Spencer, 2012). More important, it is difficult to get reliable or valid data in a written survey from vulnerable individuals and especially if the population is diverse, potentially using English as a second language (or not at all), and without support and guidance around what is being asked and whether it is safe to answer honestly.…”

Evaluating the Content of the Communication Items in the CAHPS® Clinician and Group Survey and Supplemental Items with What High-Performing Physicians Say They Do

“…[9][10][11][12] Health care organizations have had mixed success implementing patient-centeredness. 10,13,14 Patient-experience data can be important to system transformation when physicians and practice administrators use and act on the data.…”

“…10,13,14 Patient-experience data can be important to system transformation when physicians and practice administrators use and act on the data. 9,12,15,16 CAHPS surveys were designed to use information from the patient's perspective on care to improve its quality and make it more patient focused. 17 The CAHPS surveys are now the US standard for information about patient experience of care because of their reliability, content, and validity.…”

“…This finding reinforces previous analyses of the effectiveness of patient surveys in QI, namely, that their usefulness depends on design, standardization, construct validity, reliability, and internal/external validity. 12,15 Hence, the initial corporate decision to administer the CG-CAHPS survey as a part of the data-monitoring system for PCMH and QI activities enabled the practice leaders at all levels at these FQHC sites to effectively act on their patient-experience data and make changes.…”

The use of patient experience survey data by out-of-hours primary care services: a qualitative interview study

“…Our data revealed the tensions felt by service providers who desire benchmarking data, but cannot collect the detail required to provide this. Indeed, there is a strong desire internationally for benchmarking data in order to monitor quality 44. A critical review of the NQRs is needed in order to help providers to engage with patient feedback and drive service improvement effectively.…”