Evaluating patients' experiences of heart-valve replacement surgery

Abstract

Aim This initiative measures patient experience, specifically in heart-valve replacement surgery, by developing in-depth, robust and validated metrics which aim to deliver a better experience for patients and their parents/carers. The initiative was led by a group of patients, patient group representatives, cardiac clinicians and nurses, NHS England and NHS Improving Quality representatives, with support from Edwards Lifesciences (industry representative). A range of quality measures can be used to assess NHS services, including patient-reported experience measures (PREMs) and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). Research and methods This initiative aims to empower patients and patient organisations to provide feedback on what was important to them in their heart-valve replacement surgery. The PREMs group followed a clear methodology for development of the PREMs, which involved a seven-stage process over the course of eight workshops. Results Over 8 months, the group successfully developed a series of PREMs for heart-valve replacement surgery that have been reviewed by patients and service users and refined ready for wider use and validation. An updated patient experience framework was also developed with two additional components (patient choice and financial burden) being added to the existing framework developed by the Picker Institute (1987) . Conclusion PREMs can have quantitative and qualitative methodologies to drive service improvement and can be used alongside PROMs to produce a rounded picture of patients' views on both the process and the outcome of care. This research demonstrates that it is vital that patients are involved in developing the questions to ensure they are understood, comprehensive and relevant.