Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs)
and Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs)
Or measures of the care experience and of the health status reported by patients
Principal investigator
Marie-Eve Poitras,
Magaly Brodeur,
Sylvie Lambert, Diana Zidarov, Regina Vesca, Jeannie Haggerty, Maude Laberge, Nadia Sourial, Sara Ahmed
Patient partners : Marie-Dominique Poirier and Geneviève David
Funding
$49,000 - RRIISIQ
$28,750 - Réseau-1 Québec
$10,000 - Foundation de ma vie (Chicoutimi Hospital)
Study setting
19 participating countries
(including Canada)
65 Canadian medical clinics (pilot project)
Themes
Quality of care, patient experience, PREMs, PROMS
New report
Canadian Primary Care Research Network (CPCRN):
Methods and strategies for collecting patient-reported measures (English only)
This document brings together insights from exchanges with more than 30 participants during an event held alongside the OECD PaRIS study in fall 2024. Our team coordinated and facilitated the session with Professor Sabrina Wong, the Canadian co-lead of PaRIS.
PREMs I PROMs
To learn more about these indicators, watch our science popularization capsules here!
Why?
The way a patient experiences his consultation experience in a medical clinic and his perception of his state of health (PREMs and PROMs) are indicators that allow us to measure the quality of the services received and to capture whether the health system meets their needs. It is then possible to improve the relationship between the health professional and the patient, the quality of care, the quality of life of patients, policies, public health monitoring, etc.
What are our goals?
Identify indicators that measure the experience and satisfaction of patients (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures PROMs and Patient-Reported Experience Measures PREMs) who consult in a medical clinic which are the same no matter where you are in the world.
How?
Canada is participating in the PaRIS study (Patient-Reported Indicator Surveys), an international study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Dr. Poitras is the lead researcher for Canada and for the Quebec portion of the study. The large-scale Phase 1 survey took place in 2023-2024. Canada recruited 65 clinics and 4,630 patients, while Quebec recruited 13 clinics and 1,478 patients.
Our team is currently working on the preparation of the Phase 2. Data collection is planned for 2027, and so far, about fifteen countries have confirmed their participation!
Phase 1
What results have we obtained?
This project enabled the OECD to collect data from 19 countries. Among them, Canada is in the top 5 for :
-
Life expectancy
-
Overall health
-
Well-being
Comparing perceived quality of care to healthcare spending per patient across different countries demonstrated that good outcomes are not achieved simply by investing more money. Therefore, patient-reported measures can be used to guide investments and have a direct impact on patients' perceived quality of care.
The PaRIS study identified key indicators to describe the healthcare experience reported by participating patients in Canada:
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General health
-
Quality of life
-
Social functioning
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Quality of medical care over the past 12 months
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Confidence in managing one's own health and well-being
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Confidence in the healthcare system
Several key findings emerged from this survey:
From a Quebec perspective, we presented the data in the form of dashboards to participating clinics and conducted reflective practice sessions on how to use these data to enhance professional practice.
Our personalized support enabled the clinics to better understand the results, but also to apply them to their practice, fully integrate them, and identify relevant areas for improvement based on their specific context, strategic plan, and available resources.
Thanks to the lessons learned, the team was able to identify needs expressed by the clinics, such as the need for training on PROMs and PREMs, as well as the need for a digital infrastructure to facilitate data collection, analysis, and interpretation. It is from these needs that our Lori project was born.
Here is what some members of the clinics had to say:
Patient experience measurement is really interesting, and we'd like to know more about it. I'm a co-manager of the FMG, and we'd like to stay up to date. We want to improve this part of what we do, using the resource we have in our waiting room.
The results make sense. Compared with the other clinics, we're not way off—we're actually above average. It's a nice collective pat on the back.
It's good to see the numbers. With everything that's going on in the current policy environment, there's a lot of criticism among physicians. But this lets us see that there are things patients are actually satisfied with, and then we can work on the areas that clearly need improvement. The public conversation puts so much emphasis on the negative.