Patients assess the standard of our services
We are constantly working to improve the standard of our healthcare and services. Our patients are an important source of information in this respect, which is why we regularly ask them about their experiences with us.
Reliable measurements
It is important that patients’ experiences are measured reliably. The Patient Experience Measure (PEM) has been specially developed for this purpose. This instrument is used by all University Medical Centres (UMC’s) and was drawn up together with patients. The PEM makes use of questionnaires from the Picker Institute which were developed based on the 8 Principles of Person-Centred Care:
Reference: Picker institute. About us: Principles of Person Centred care. URL: https://www.picker.org/about-us/picker-principles-of-person-centred-care/
How does it work?
Patients can take part only if they have a valid email address. When patients register with us, they are asked whether their email address may be used for the purpose of our Patient Experience Survey. Patients can also sign up for the survey themselves by filling in their email address on the My Erasmus MC patient portal.
A number of patients receive an email within two weeks of their hospital visit inviting them to complete an on-line questionnaire about their experiences with us. This is a questionnaire that they can fill in at home, on their computer, smartphone or tablet. An independent firm called Expoints sends the email invitations to patients and organises the survey on our behalf.
Questionnaire for children
A number of children treated by us, and the parents or guardians of children treated by us, also receive a questionnaire. This questionnaire consists of a number of questions aimed at parents and guardians, plus various questions for children, which they can answer themselves (provided they are at least 8 years old).
Confidential and voluntary
Your participation in the survey is entirely voluntary and does not in any way affect your visit or stay at the hospital. The answers are processed on an anonymous basis. We do not know ourselves which patients have received or completed a questionnaire. You can always decide not to take part in any future patient experience surveys, either by completing the appropriate form on the Patient Portal or by clicking on the link in the email invitation. Our Privacy site (which includes our privacy statement) provides information on how we process your data.
What do we do with the results?
The results of the questionnaire tell us what our patients think. For example, do physicians and nurses clearly explain diseases and treatments? Do patients feel safe and comfortable? Do patients feel well-informed about after-care services after they are discharged from hospital?
We also use the survey findings for internal benchmarking purposes, i.e. for comparing teams, departments and domains with each other, as well as for external benchmarking, i.e. comparing our own ratings with those of other university medical centres and other hospitals around the world that make use of the same Picker-based questionnaires. We use the results to help us constantly improve our healthcare and other services.
Survey findings:
- Patient experiences in 2018 (in Dutch)
- Patient experiences in 2017 (in Dutch)
