Developing the Patient Experience Assessment Questionnaire for Hospital Inpatient Care in South Korea

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Patient Experience Measurement
• Psychometric Validation

Background:

• Global emphasis on measuring patient experiences to enhance healthcare quality.
• Need for culturally relevant tools due to variations in healthcare systems and sociocultural contexts.
• Development of a patient experience questionnaire for hospital inpatient care in South Korea.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline the development process of the Patient Experience Assessment (PXA) questionnaire.
• To assess the psychometric properties, including validity and reliability, of the PXA.
• To create a locally relevant tool for measuring patient experiences in South Korea.

Main Methods:

• Multi-phase development: literature review, qualitative research, Delphi method expert review, and pilot testing.
• Data collection from 629 inpatients across four general hospitals.
• Psychometric analysis using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA/CFA) and Cronbach's alpha for reliability.

Main Results:

• The PXA questionnaire comprises 21 items across 6 domains, validated through EFA and CFA into a four-factor structure.
• The four factors are: Information, dignity, and autonomy; Communication with nurses; Communication with doctors; and Hospital environment.
• The PXA demonstrated excellent reliability (Cronbach's alpha: total=0.95; subscales=0.89-0.93) and strong validity.

Conclusions:

• The PXA questionnaire exhibits robust psychometric properties and is being implemented in South Korea.
• The study highlights the importance of patient and caregiver engagement in developing culturally specific patient experience instruments.
• This work provides a model for creating locally relevant patient experience questionnaires grounded in global patient-centered care principles.