Supporting a Greater Role for Patients in Assessing the Quality of Care

In research already conducted by our team on what contributes to the quality of patient care, we found that patients are able to provide quality of care ratings that are similar to those given by providers, and more reliably as well. With our growing understanding that the health care system needs to consider the patient's view point when deciding what is and is not good care, we want to study the patient experience with care and their ability to rate the quality of care. Our plan is to follow stroke and acute myocardial infarction patients and their care providers from the hospital to rehabilitation to recovery. We will use questionnaires, focus groups and interviews to collect information on the patient experience as well as ratings of care. Using the information we collect, we will work with patients and providers to identify ways to improve care for heart attack and stroke patients.