Client-Centred Rehabilitation - Arthritis Community Research ...

Appendix C: Picker Institute
1295 Boylston Street, suite 100
Boston, MA 00215
www.picker.org
- non profit affiliate of Care Group in Boston, Massachusetts
- international leader in the field of healthcare quality assessment and improvement strategies
through the patients’ eyes
- mission is to improve quality of healthcare through the eye’s of the patient
- Picker seeks to help caregivers and others to understand issues that are most crucial to
patients
- believes that patient centred approaches will make healthcare more humane and improve
patients’ experiences
- 1987 started as a grant funded project through the Commonwealth Foundation
- founders conducted focus groups around the country with patients and their families
- early work is summarized in a book entitled “Through the Patients’ Eyes” (Gerteis et al,
1993)
- does not focus on goal setting
Picker Methodology: focus groups, focused interviews, national surveys
Clinical settings: hospitals, clinic’s and doctor’s offices
Broad range of ages, ethnicities, geographical locations, medical conditions
Validity The validity of the surveys is addressed throughout the whole development process to
insure that survey measurements correspond to some true or real value. The discriminant validity
of their instruments is tested by the observed differences in problem rates between institutions.
Reliability: The very nature of Pickers face-to-face development process with patients and
health care workers insures that there is consistency across respondents (ie. the questions mean
the same thing to every respondent).
Based on over ten years of research and more than 400 000 patient survey interviews, the Picker
Institute has identified eight dimensions of care that patient’s value:
[Eye on patients: A report by the Picker Institute for the American Hospital Association]
1. Access to care
2. Respecting a patient’s values preferences and expressed needs
3. Emotional support
4. Information and Education
5. Coordination of care
6. Physical comfort
7. Involvement of family and friends
8. Continuity and transition