Usability of patient experience surveys in Australian primary health care: a scoping review * Karen Gardner A , Anne Parkinson A,D , Michelle Banfield C , Ginny M. Sargent B , Jane Desborough A and Kanupriya Kalia Hehir A A Australian Primary Health Care Research Institute, 63 Eggleston Road, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia. B National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Research School of Population Health, 62 Eggleston Road, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia. C National Institute for Mental Health Research, 63 Eggleston Road, The Australian National University, Acton, ACT 2601, Australia. D Corresponding author. Email: Anne.Parkinson@anu.edu.au Abstract. Monitoring patient experience is essential for stimulating innovation in health care and improving quality and accountability. Internationally, standardised approaches are used to collect patient experience information, but in Australian primary health care (PHC), little is known about which patient experience surveys are used and which aspects of experience they measure. This prevents routine inclusion of patient experience data in quality improvement or system performance measurement. A scoping review was undertaken to identify relevant surveys. Data on survey availability, psychometric properties, target population, method and frequency of administration were extracted. Survey items were mapped against six dimensions of patient experience described internationally. Ninety-five surveys were identified; 34 were developed for use in Australia. Surveys vary in content, size, aspects of experience measured and methods of administration. The quality of data collected and the extent to which it is used in quality improvement is unclear. Collection of patient experience data in Australian PHC is not well developed or standardised and there are few publicly available instruments. There is a need to clearly identify the purposes for which data are to be used and to develop an integrated approach that articulates these collections with other quality and performance data. Some options are discussed. Additional keywords: accreditation, health services performance measurement, quality improvement. Received 18 December 2014, accepted 20 June 2015, published online 2 September 2015 Introduction Monitoring patient experience is essential for improving quality, stimulating innovation in the redesign and delivery of health care, improving accountability and for building patient-centred care into health care organisations (Wong and Haggerty 2013). The routine collection of patient experience data is also an increasingly important element of overall system performance measurement (Salisbury et al. 2010). To fulfil both system- and service-oriented objectives, patient experience measures need to address aspects of health care performance that are of relevance to consumers, and that can be influenced by providers and aligned with measures of organisational and care quality. Engaging consumers about their experience facilitates a better understanding of what is considered good quality health care from a patient’s perspective and enables them to influence the quality of care directly (Salisbury et al. 2010). Patient experience is influenced by human and organisational factors, including the interpersonal and technical aspects of care (e.g. respect, communication and trust, improvements in knowledge, literacy and capacity to act for health), as well as structural elements of care (e.g. waiting times, consultation structure, physical environments; Kalucy et al. 2009). The lived experience, including involvement of family, carers and the broader context for health is also important (Staniszewska et al. 2014). A recent review identified six dimensions of primary health care (PHC) that patients consider the most important to measure, namely: (1) access; (2) interpersonal communication; (3) continuity and coordination; (4) comprehensiveness; (5) trust; and (6) patient-reported impacts of care (Wong and Haggerty 2013). There are many different ways to assess patient experiences of PHC. These include the use of surveys as well as the collection * This paper describes the results of a scoping review that was part of a larger study commissioned by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). We have permission to publish from the work. Journal compilation Ó La Trobe University 2016 www.publish.csiro.au/journals/py CSIRO PUBLISHING Australian Journal of Primary Health, 2016, 22, 93–99 Review http://dx.doi.org/10.1071/PY14179