The Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire: development and validation using data from in-patient surveys in five countries.

Journal article

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to develop and test a core set of questions to measure patients' experiences of in-patient care. Questions were selected from the bank of items developed for use in in-patient surveys undertaken by the Picker Institute for the purposes of assessing the quality of care. DESIGN: The data reported here come from surveys of patients who had attended acute care hospitals in five countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and the USA. Questionnaires were mailed to patients' homes within 1 month of discharge, either to all patients, or to a random sample, discharged during a specified period. SAMPLE: A total of 62 925 questionnaires were returned, with response rates of 65% (UK), 74% (Germany), 63% (Sweden), 52% (Switzerland), and 46% (USA). RESULTS: Fifteen items were selected from the bank of questions included in the Picker in-patient questionnaires. These items have a high degree of face validity and when summed to an index they show a high degree of construct validity and internal reliability consistency. DISCUSSION: Fifteen items derived from the longer form Picker in-patient survey have been found to provide a meaningful picture of patient experiences of health care, and constitute the 15-item Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire. These questions comprise a core set that should be measured in all in-patient facility surveys. The Picker Patient Experience Questionnaire represents a step forward in the measurement of patient experience as it provides a core set of questions around which further optional modules may be added. Scores are easy to interpret and actionable. CONCLUSION: This small set of questions could be incorporated into in-patient surveys in different settings, enabling the comparison of hospital performance and the establishment of national or international benchmarks.

Authors: Jenkinson, C; Coulter, A; Bruster, S

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: International journal for quality in health care : journal of the International Society for Quality in Health Care / ISQua
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 353-358
• Publication date: 2002-10-01
• DOI: 10.1093/intqhc/14.5.353
• EISSN: 1464-3677
• ISSN: 1353-4505
• Language: English
• Keywords: Europe; Patient Satisfaction; Humans; Middle Aged; Hospitals; Hospital-Patient Relations; Female; Quality of Health Care; United States; Male; Questionnaires