Trading satisfaction for experience: Development of an oncology patient experience survey.

Abstract

e18667 Background: Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) are gaining favor over standard patient satisfaction surveys, providing a multidimensional approach to understand unique patients’ care experiences. However, while existing tools undergo robust creation and validation processes, many of these processes do not include input from patients themselves. The purpose of the present work was to describe the development of a patient experience survey to be distributed to oncology patients in an interdisciplinary care center, combining validated measures, site-specific considerations, and patient input. Methods: This questionnaire was designed through an iterative process over the course of 6 months. First, a focus group was conducted with advocates from our Patient Advisory Board to identify measures that mattered to them pertaining to their care experience. We then reviewed 12 measures of patient surveys to identify existing validated evaluation tools for patient experience. We critically examined these against core domains of the Cancer Life ReiMagined (CaLM) model of care: Whole Person Care, Care Coordination, Communication, Empowerment, Access to Care. Of 4 measures identified, 9 validated items were chosen and combined with team-generated items to produce an initial 19-question form of the Oncology Patient Experience Survey. Results: We held two 1-hour sessions with two groups of patient advocates to guide and narrow the survey from each dimension of the original scale. Overall response to the survey was positive, but results from these sessions prompted heavy modifications, including creation of a new section of the survey that re-classified ‘non-cancer needs’ as 7 distinct domains, and the addition of 3 open-ended questions. Conclusions: The end result was a complete 33-item Oncology Patient Experience Survey, ready for deployment. This methodology serves as a novel, low-cost and timely way to implement site-specific patient experience surveys without sacrificing quality.[Table: see text]