Piloting a generic cancer consumer quality index in six European countries.

Background: Accounting for patients' perspective has become increasingly important. Based on the Consumer Quality Index method (founded on Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) a questionnaire was recently developed for Dutch cancer patients. As a next step, this study aimed to adapt and pilot this questionnaire for international comparison of cancer patients experience and satisfaction with care in six European countries.

Assessing the potential for improvement of primary care in 34 countries: a cross-sectional survey.

Objective: To investigate patients' perceptions of improvement potential in primary care in 34 countries.

Methods: We did a cross-sectional survey of 69 201 patients who had just visited general practitioners at primary-care facilities. Patients rated five features of person-focused primary care - accessibility/availability, continuity, comprehensiveness, patient involvement and doctor-patient communication.

Patient experiences of inpatient hospital care: a department matter and a hospital matter.

Objective: To examine the added value of measuring and possibly presenting patient experiences at the department level, in addition to the hospital level, and to explore the possibility that patient experiences differ according to the 'type' of hospital department.

Design: Secondary analysis of data from a widely used survey on patient experiences of Dutch inpatient hospital care [Consumer Quality Index (CQI) Inpatient Hospital Care].

Setting: Inpatient hospital care experience survey of patients of 78 Dutch hospitals.

Exploring young patients’ perspectives on rehabilitation care: methods and challenges of organizing focus groups for children and adolescents.

Background: In research on quality of care, the experiences of children and (pre)adolescents are usually assessed by asking their parents. However, these young patients may have preferences of their own, and their experiences do not necessarily concur with those of their parents. Therefore, our research aimed to give young patients an opportunity to speak up for themselves.

Measuring patients' experiences with palliative care: the Consumer Quality Index Palliative Care.

Background: The Consumer Quality Index Palliative Care (CQ-index PC) is a structured questionnaire for measuring the quality of palliative care from the perspective of care users. CQ-indices assess which care aspects need quality improvement by relating answers about actual care experiences to answers about the importance of certain aspects of care.

Methods: To improve the chance that the new instrument has good content validity, a literature study and individual and group discussions were performed, and a steering committee was consulted to establish the instrument's face and content validity.