PREMs and PROMs: must-knows about Patient Reported Measures 

Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) provide insights into care experienced by patients. Such data collection is vital to creating a person-centred and integrated Australian healthcare system.

Through understanding a patient’s experience of care, gaps in service delivery can be identified and addressed. This will ultimately enhance the patient care experience. This is advantageous for clinicians and patients alike. As it provides the opportunity to co-design a mutually beneficial partnership and care journey.

What are Patient Reported Measures?

Patient Reported Measures is an umbrella term covering Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs).

Collecting Patient Reported Measures provides the opportunity to create better value health care. The data can guide health systems to make adjustments that optimise the use of resources whilst improving health-related quality. This will aid the healthcare system in combating the challenges of an ageing population and rising chronic diseases. All whilst maximising the opportunities that technical advancements provide.

What is Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREMs)?

PREMs capture the patient’s perception of their healthcare experience. PREMs are usually collected post-clinical practice experience through validated and secure survey tools. These tools have been specifically and strategically designed to extract the truth of a patient’s experience concerning clinical interactions.

PREMs data empowers health providers to identify strengths and opportunities to enhance care. Identifying these opportunities allows targeted improvements to be made, leading to optimal patient outcomes. PREMs support quality improvements through validated, reliable scoring against national benchmarks.

Examples of PREMs

Examples of topics covered on a PREMs questionnaire include:

• The clinician’s interest in the patient as a whole person
• The patient’s involvement in the decision-making process
•  Quality of communication – the clinician’s ability to explain things clearly
• How accessible the service is
• How at ease a patient felt
• Timeliness of service delivery
• Cleanliness of the health service
• Professionalism and friendliness of the staff

Learn more about patient feedback in our article ‘Patient Feedback Surveys: Developing and Gathering Feedback‘.

What is Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)?

PROMs capture a patient’s perspective of their health and wellbeing at specific time points in their healthcare journey. PROMs data is generally collected through questionnaires, commonly before and after each treatment type. By measuring the effectiveness of specific care interventions, improvements can be made that better address the patient’s health outcomes.

To improve the quality of care in Australia, a greater understanding of patient experiences and outcomes is necessary. CFEP Surveys recognise that health care needs vary from patient to patient and health service to health service. Therefore, CFEPs PROMs tools have been separated into condition, disease or profession-specific, and generic.

Examples of PROMs

Examples of topics covered on a PROMs questionnaire include:

• Quality of life
• Symptoms
• Pain level
• Physical function
• Self-reported health status
• Self-efficacy

Patient Partnership in Care Tool

The CFEP Surveys Patient Partnership in Care (PPiC) Tool is a validated, evidence-informed feedback tool. PPiC was originally developed for the Co-Creating Health project in the United Kingdom. Specifically to assess PREMs and PROMs in patients with chronic diseases. CFEP Surveys’ PPiC Tool has been adapted for use by Australian health services to ensure local relevancy and application.

The tool allows services to completely understand their ability to support and motivate patients to self-manage their chronic diseases. Empowering patients is mutually beneficial. It alleviates the pressure on the health service whilst giving the patient greater control over their life.

CFEP Surveys’ PREMs and PROMs Tools

CFEP Surveys offers a variety of PROMs and PREMs tools, in addition to the Patient Partnership in Care (PPiC) Tool. We recognise that as a health service provider, your patients are your number one priority.

To provide a safe and quality-focused service, bettering the patient experience formulates part of your quality improvement and care commitment. An effective way of achieving this is by implementing Patient Reported Measures that specifically suit your service type. Now is the time to create the optimal toolkit for your practice’s or clinic’s needs. To do this, you can use the following surveys alone or in combination:

• Practice Accreditation & Improvement Survey (PAIS)
• Diagnostic Imaging Practice Survey
• Pharmacy Questionnaire
• Clinic Improvement Survey (CIS)
• Dental Practice Questionnaire
• Retirement Village Resident Feedback

With Australian healthcare becoming more person-centred and integrated, there is a growing trend toward collecting Patient Reported Measures. CFEP Surveys can help your service identify and implement the appropriate PREMs and PROMs tools to best meet your needs.