Small Group Exercise: Measurement Roberto Castano, Monica Floricel, Susie Lau, Zubin Punthakee October 6, 2003

Construction of a scale of measuring inpatients’ opinion on quality of care L Salomon et al. International Journal for Quality in Health Care 1999; Vol 11, Number 6: pp

What is the measurement being studied? Self-administered questionnaire of a 26- item scale on patients’ opinions on quality of hospital care

What is the poposed use of the measurement? To measure inpatients’ evaluation of care suitable for large-scale department evaluation in France

What is the research question? What is the appropriate content of a reliable and valid questionnaire to assess inpatients’ opinion of the quality of hospital care?

What aspect of the validity or reliability of the measurement is being studied? Reliability: –internal consistency –test-retest –alternate form

What aspect of the validity or reliability of the measurement is being studied? Validity: –construct –criterion validity (concurrent) –content and face

Are the study design and methods appropriate for the research question? Yes used qualitative methods to select relevant items used quantitative methods to assess reliability and validity

What are the main sources of bias in the study? Social desirability Selection bias Information bias

Have the investigators answered their research question? Yes

What are the implications of the results: how could the study measure be used? Research: –to validate other questionnaires of patient satisfaction Clinical: –to assess quality of care in lg depts to assess adequacy of resource allocation within and btn depts, evaluation of patient-care staff, assess interventions that could improve satisfaction

Is more research on the measurement itself needed? Yes To assess generalizability to: –children –English/French To assess responsiveness of measurement