Psychometric Testing of a Measure of Patient Experience in an Ambulatory Surgery Setting.

The purpose of this research was to develop a psychometrically sound survey for use with the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Services (OAS CAHPS) survey. Both an exploratory pilot and a confirmatory pilot were conducted in hospital outpatient departments and freestanding ambulatory surgery centers eligible for participation in the OAS CAHPS program. Analyses indicated an internally consistent and valid 18-item survey with 6 measures, including Access, Moving Through the Visit, Nurses, Anesthesiologist, Doctor, and Coordinated Care.

Nursing care, inpatient satisfaction, and value-based purchasing: vital connections.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate how domains of patient satisfaction in hospitals predict Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) global rating scores to support hospital administrators in dealing with reimbursement changes.

Background: Medicare's inpatient value-based purchasing program ties a portion of hospital payments to scores on the HCAHPS survey.

Methods: Logistical regression analysis of patient-level satisfaction domain scores from a standard, commercially available survey and HCAHPS top-box scores controlled for potential confounding variables.

Patient satisfaction with hospitalists: facility-level analyses.

Despite concerns and disagreements about the impact of hospitalist models on health care, hospitalists are becoming the dominant means of providing inpatient care, and models continue to diversify. Understanding their impact and the factors that influence their adoption is essential. This study examined hospitalists' impact on patient satisfaction, considering a host of characteristics.

Award-winning outpatient service: finding the common thread.

With the considerable number of quality improvement options available, it is difficult to determine which are right for your organization. As the award-winning outpatient organizations and the research literature cited in this article demonstrate, improving the quality of communication both directly and indirectly increases a patient's opinion of an organization. Specifically, the extent and quality of communication with the patient and among healthcare team members, both during and after the patient's visit, are key drivers of the patient's increased likelihood to recommend the organization.

Dementia care mapping as a research tool.

Introduction: Dementia Care Mapping (DCM) was originally developed as a clinical tool but has attracted interest as a potential observational measure of quality of life (QOL) and well-being of long-term care residents with dementia. DCM coding involves continuous observation over a 6-h period, with observers recording a Behavior Category Code (BCC, a recording of activity/interaction) and a Well/Ill Being (WIB) score at 5 min intervals.

Method: Descriptive data from several different research teams on the distribution and psychometric properties of DCM data were compiled and summarized.

Information and service needs of persons with Alzheimer's disease and their family caregivers living in rural communities.

This study aimed to identify the information and service needs of persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and their family caregivers living in rural communities and to assess differences and similarities in each partner's perspective. In an outpatient clinic setting, a self-report survey was completed by 100 caregivers, while a similar survey was used to interview 100 persons with mild to moderate AD. The survey assessed respondents' interest in information or services related to 22 topics about AD and various aspects of coping with the disease.

A comparison of three methods of measuring dementia-specific quality of life: perspectives of residents, staff, and observers.

Purpose: This exploratory study compared three methods of assessing dementia specific quality of life, corresponding to the perspectives of residents, staff members, and trained observers.

Design And Methods: We collected data on 172 residents with dementia in four special care nursing facilities and three assisted living facilities. Analyses assessed the relationship of each quality-of-life method or perspective to the others and to resident characteristics such as cognitive and functional status.

Development of the knowledge about memory loss and care (KAML-C) test.

The purpose of this study was to develop a test to assess the knowledge of family caregivers concerning memory loss, the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and related care issues. A total of 31 multiple-choice items were generated in three domains: medical information, caregiving, and legal/financial planning. The test was administered to experts in the field of dementia research and care, medical students, and family caregivers.

Comparison of dementia-specific quality of life measures in adult day centers.

This study evaluated five dementia-specific quality of life (DQOL) measures including client interviews, staff proxies, and observations with 54 clients in three adult day centers. Also, the relationship of cognitive and functional status to each of the DQOL measures was assessed. Client interviews correlated well with each other, but not with other measures.