Patient engagement is a key contributor to the success of care coordination. When patients are involved in their care planning and decision-making, they feel more empowered and in control of their health.
There are two key methods that you can use to measure patient satisfaction: Patient Activation Measures (PAMSs) and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).
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PAMs
The PAM is a 100-point, quantifiable scale determining patient engagement in healthcare. The PAM helps healthcare researchers to develop best practices in patient engagement and patient activation. This scale also helps doctors determine which specific strategies they will deploy with a singular patient.
The PAM survey is broken down into 22 questions and focuses on identifying the following patient characteristics:
- Ability to self-manage illness or problems
- Ability to engage in activities that maintain functioning and reduce health declines
- Ability to be involved in treatment and diagnostic choices
- Ability to collaborate with providers
- Ability to select providers and provider organisations based on performance or quality
- Ability to navigate the health care system (Heath, 2019)
To learn how you can implement PAMs in your practice, read the full article here.
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PROMs
PROMs are questions that ask patients to assess elements of their own health, quality of life, and functioning. The primary benefit of PROMs is that they provide the data that can help clinicians understand the benefits of health care to patients from the patient’s perspective (Victoria Dept. Health and Human Services, 2016).
Also collected in questionnaire format, PROMs gather information on a person’s symptoms, condition, and overall quality of life. Questions can be designed to be generic, or condition specific.
PROMs are the only means by which some symptoms (such as pain and nausea), can be measured and the only way with which to convey the patient’s value judgement of their functioning and daily activities (Victoria Dept. Health and Human Services, 2016).
The resulting data can be used to show how healthcare interventions and treatments affect aspects of a person’s day-to-day life. The results can allow clinicians to benchmark their clinical practices and create best practice models of care.
You can read more about PROMs here.
References:
Heath, S. (2019). What is the Patient Activation Measure in Patient-Centered Care?. [online] PatientEngagementHIT. Available at: https://patientengagementhit.com/news/what-is-the-patient-activation-measure-in-patient-centered-care [Accessed 17 Dec. 2019].
www2.health.vic.gov.au. (2016). Collecting Patient Reported Outcome Measures in Victoria. [online] Available at: https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/Api/downloadmedia/%7B35C235F0-806B-4C6D-83BB-0EC640C38315%7D [Accessed 18 Dec. 2019].
www2.health.vic.gov.au. (2016). Collecting Patient Reported Outcome Measures in Victoria. [online] Available at: https://www2.health.vic.gov.au/Api/downloadmedia/%7B35C235F0-806B-4C6D-83BB-0EC640C38315%7D [Accessed 18 Dec. 2019].