Exploring patient participation in reducing health-care-related safety risks

Exploring patient participation in reducing health-care-related safety risks
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Providing these is the responsibility of professionals. Again, patient experience surveys
can be used to monitor professionals’ efforts to empower patients and to improve their
self-management skills. The CAHPS Item Set for Addressing Health Literacy or the
Patient Activation Measure serve as good examples of these kinds of surveys.
Recommendation 6 – Combine quantitative data with qualitative narratives
It should be borne in mind that the least-literate patients are also least capable of filling
out questionnaires. It is obvious that a certain level of literacy is required for patients to be
able to complete questionnaires about their experiences with health care safety. Even when
older people respond, they have higher rates of missing items (100). Questionnaires can be
difficult to understand for patients with low literacy levels. King et al. therefore suggest that
future patient reporting systems should balance closed-ended questions for cause analysis
and classification, and open-ended narratives to allow for patients’ limited understanding of
terminology (101). Patient stories are not only a rich source of information, they can also
serve as a powerful tool to influence and change professionals’ behaviour (85).
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