Client Experience of Care
According to the Institute of Medicine, patient-centered care is respectful of and responsive to the needs and preferences of individual clients. To provide high-quality, patient-centered care, health care providers can gather information on clients’ experience of care to learn about their perceptions of and satisfaction with the care they receive. This feedback is essential as SBHC programs strive to continuously adapt and improve the services they provide to respond to clients’ needs.
In partnership with SBHC stakeholders in Colorado and New York, the School-Based Health Alliance developed a brief, anonymous survey that SBHCs can use to understand their clients’ experiences of care. This survey captures clients’ perceptions of confidentiality, satisfaction, accessibility, and patient-provider communication. Our survey is purposefully brief to minimize burden on SBHC staff and clients. As appropriate, SBHCs can add questions to the survey to meet their own particular needs. The Alliance developed a comprehensive guide to help SBHCs administer the survey.
Click here to download survey (English)
Case Examples
Case Example #1:
In Colorado, SBHCs are required to administer a standardized survey of patient experience of care at least every 24 months to receive state-level funding. SBHCs administer the Colorado SBHC Program User Survey during a four-month period to all SBHC clients. These data are used to improve the quality of care delivered in their SBHCs and share successes with SBHC partners. SBHC administrators believe collecting data on adolescents’ experience of care is critical because that feedback directly influences a patient’s willingness to return to the SBHC. SBHCs cannot be successful, SBHC program administrators warn, if people aren’t satisfied with the services they’ve received.
Other Resources
- Crossing the Quality Chasm – A New Health System for the 21st Century. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 2001
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What are some promising strategies my SBHC can use to document experience of care?
- Review this guide with your SBHC staff and develop a plan for how you will distribute surveys to your clients.
- Invite all SBHC clients to take the survey regardless of visit type (e.g., drop-in/first aid, medical, and mental health clients). Ask a wide variety of patients to take the survey, both frequent clients and those who have only used the health center once.
- Administer the survey on tablets or laptops to save data entry time.