National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?

IntroductionThe experiences of patients receiving health care constitute an important aspect of health-care quality assessments. One of the purposes of the national program of patient-experience surveys in Norway is to support institutional and departmental improvements to the quality of local healt...

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Main Authors: Mona Haugum, Hilde Hestad Iversen, Oyvind Bjertnaes
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2024-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Health Services
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2024.1356342/full
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author Mona Haugum
Mona Haugum
Hilde Hestad Iversen
Oyvind Bjertnaes
author_facet Mona Haugum
Mona Haugum
Hilde Hestad Iversen
Oyvind Bjertnaes
author_sort Mona Haugum
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionThe experiences of patients receiving health care constitute an important aspect of health-care quality assessments. One of the purposes of the national program of patient-experience surveys in Norway is to support institutional and departmental improvements to the quality of local health-care services. This program includes national surveys of patients receiving interdisciplinary treatment for substance dependence performed four times between 2013 and 2017. The aims of this study were twofold: (i) to determine the attitudes of employees towards these surveys and their use of the survey results, and (ii) to identify changes in patient experiences at the national level from 2013 to 2017.Material and methodsEmployees were surveyed one week prior to conducting cross-sectional patient experience surveys. One-way ANOVA and chi-square tests were used to assess differences between years, and content analysis was applied to the open-ended comments.ResultsAround 400 employees were recruited in each of the four survey years, and the response rate varied from 61% to 79%. The employees generally reported a positive attitude towards patient-experience surveys, and 40%–50% of them had implemented quality initiatives based on the results of the patient surveys. The mean score for the question on usefulness was higher than 3 (on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 points) for all four surveys. Many employees provided details about the changes that had been made in open-ended comments. The results from the patient-experience surveys demonstrated positive changes over time.DiscussionThe employees had positive viewpoints towards patient-experience surveys, and around half of them had implemented quality initiatives. This implies that employees find such surveys important, and that patient-experience surveys are regarded as useful and actionable. The surveys of patients showed positive changes in their experiences over time. The most-common target areas reported by employees showed clear improvements in patient experiences at the national level.
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spelling doaj-art-01b6da06b0bd4d6ba1a84df8dd8084df2024-11-12T11:39:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Health Services2813-01462024-11-01410.3389/frhs.2024.13563421356342National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?Mona Haugum0Mona Haugum1Hilde Hestad Iversen2Oyvind Bjertnaes3Department for Health Services Research, Division for Health Services, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, NorwayFaculty of Medicine, Institute of Health and Society, University of Oslo, Oslo, NorwayDepartment for Health Services Research, Division for Health Services, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, NorwayDepartment for Health Services Research, Division for Health Services, The Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, NorwayIntroductionThe experiences of patients receiving health care constitute an important aspect of health-care quality assessments. One of the purposes of the national program of patient-experience surveys in Norway is to support institutional and departmental improvements to the quality of local health-care services. This program includes national surveys of patients receiving interdisciplinary treatment for substance dependence performed four times between 2013 and 2017. The aims of this study were twofold: (i) to determine the attitudes of employees towards these surveys and their use of the survey results, and (ii) to identify changes in patient experiences at the national level from 2013 to 2017.Material and methodsEmployees were surveyed one week prior to conducting cross-sectional patient experience surveys. One-way ANOVA and chi-square tests were used to assess differences between years, and content analysis was applied to the open-ended comments.ResultsAround 400 employees were recruited in each of the four survey years, and the response rate varied from 61% to 79%. The employees generally reported a positive attitude towards patient-experience surveys, and 40%–50% of them had implemented quality initiatives based on the results of the patient surveys. The mean score for the question on usefulness was higher than 3 (on a Likert scale from 1 to 5 points) for all four surveys. Many employees provided details about the changes that had been made in open-ended comments. The results from the patient-experience surveys demonstrated positive changes over time.DiscussionThe employees had positive viewpoints towards patient-experience surveys, and around half of them had implemented quality initiatives. This implies that employees find such surveys important, and that patient-experience surveys are regarded as useful and actionable. The surveys of patients showed positive changes in their experiences over time. The most-common target areas reported by employees showed clear improvements in patient experiences at the national level.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2024.1356342/fullpatient satisfactionpatient experiencequality of health careemployees’ viewpointsquality improvementhealth services research
spellingShingle Mona Haugum
Mona Haugum
Hilde Hestad Iversen
Oyvind Bjertnaes
National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?
Frontiers in Health Services
patient satisfaction
patient experience
quality of health care
employees’ viewpoints
quality improvement
health services research
title National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?
title_full National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?
title_fullStr National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?
title_full_unstemmed National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?
title_short National surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in Norway: do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time?
title_sort national surveys of patient experiences with addiction services in norway do employees use the results in quality initiatives and are results improving over time
topic patient satisfaction
patient experience
quality of health care
employees’ viewpoints
quality improvement
health services research
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frhs.2024.1356342/full
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