Measuring patients' assessments of primary care quality: the use of self-report questionnaires

Abstract

The views of patients are seen as an increasingly important complement to other measures of quality of care, such as clinical indicators. This review summarizes previous research and current issues relating to the use of patient assessments of primary care quality. Patient assessments can be used to measure a number of different domains of primary care quality. Significant advances have been made in terms of the production of comprehensive, reliable and valid patient assessments, which can be used in both research and quality improvement activities. However, the effectiveness of the use of patient assessments as a technology for quality improvement remains unclear.