Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) as Organizational Innovation: The Impact of Management Choices on Patient Perception of Care Delivery

Healthcare services’ ultimate mission is to generate value for their patients. This implies taking into account patients and caregivers’ opinions on the care they provide, as a satisfied patient not only is the best indicator of the quality of care provided but it is considered to be an healthcare service’s outcome (Abdel Maqsood et al. in Wiley Online Library 18:140–146, 2012). The USL Toscana Centro’s (USLTC) Nursing Department adopted PREMs in January 2022 joining the Permanent PREMs Observatory at the Sant’ Anna School of Advanced Studies of Pisa, with the aim of improving its performances and enhancing its human capital. By gathering data on patients’ perceptions during their hospitalization, the organization’s management can identify the trajectories following which it becomes possible to drive service improvement strategies (e.g., workflows’ redesign, care pathways’ improvements, and ward layout appropriateness) and human resources management’s (HRM) promotion through a real-time return of the results (De Rosis et al. in J Health Organization Manag, 2021). Aiming to achieve these two goals, measurement must be systematic. All users are invited to participate in the investigation by hospital staff, exceeding the sampling to the census. Patients and caregivers are invited to fill out a survey that reaches them through an SMS and/or e-mail containing a personalized link to access and complete it online, twenty-four hours after the hospital discharge. The survey includes standard experience closed questions and a series of open ones, to allow a punctual description of the most relevant aspects experienced. USLTC’s Nursing Department carried out staff’s training on patient recruitment and a pilot study in two inpatient’s wards during the first two months of the 2022, before the scaling up. In the first year of operation in nine hospitals, the responses of 5107 patients were collected (32% response rate), establishing a new routinely management-informing data collection. The dimensions with the best evaluation, among those investigated, were those relating to the “nursing staff’s kindness and courtesy in welcoming the patient to the ward” and the “management of pain.” The dimension with the worst evaluation was that of “patient involvement in the treatment path.” The total value of the assistance received in the hospitalization experience was 94% “excellent and good,” 4.51% “sufficient,” 1.55% “poor,” and 0.43% “very bad.” The purpose of this managerial tool is to open a direct channel with patients, to collect their stories, and to treasure their experiences, with the aim to improve the quality of the assistance offered, so much to enhance the healthcare staff who are committed daily to providing services.