How well do we do what we do, and how do we know it? The importance of patient-reported experience measures in assessing our patients’ experience of care

As highly trained practitioners in the practice of patient care, at times we may not emphasize the art of the patient experience. Multiple studies have shown that patients’ attitudes and expectations have an effect on their outcomes after surgery. Our patients’ perceptions of their care, through proxies like respect, courtesy, compassion, emotional connection and listening, may be as important to them as the actual care received. In this discussion, I review the importance of measuring patient experiences through patient-reported experience measures, and I describe our practice at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital with mass surveying using an Internet-based survey tool. Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital is a 469-bed facility in Oakville, Ont., in which 13 401 surgical procedures were performed in 2016.