An OECD survey into patient experiences with chronic health conditions is now enrolling GP practices. Registrars can also have their say about training.
In a primary care data-gathering exercise that will rival BEACH and LUMOS, GPs and patients across 20 countries are invited to participate in a survey looking at chronic health conditions.
The project, known as PaRIS (Patient-Reported Indicator Survey), is led by the OECD but administered in Australia by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care.
GP practices that participate can expect to receive personalised survey results that will allow them to compare performance to other practices.
PaRIS bills itself as “the first survey of its kind” that will assess the experiences of patients with chronic health conditions in primary healthcare settings across countries.
It will rely on patient-reported experience and outcome measures to generate insight into healthcare access and waiting times, quality of life, pain, physical functioning and mental wellbeing.
In the long term, the government said that the data will be used by policy makers to prioritise spending and by clinicians to gain a “clearer understanding” of how to improve their quality of care.
Participating practices will need to complete a 10-minute survey upon signing up and then send the patient survey on to eligible patients.
The project has been in the works since 2017, with limited field trials in 2021 and 2022, but the main survey is only being run from July to October this year.
A “flagship report” is expected in 2024.
Only RACGP-accredited practices with an electronic health records system are eligible to participate.
PaRIS isn’t the only current opportunity for the data-driven quality improvement enthusiasts among us, with the annual Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) GP registrar survey also open now.
It’s set to be an especially important edition of the survey, given that GP training made its long-awaited transition back to the GP colleges in February this year.
Roughly 1100 registrars took the 2022 survey.
When asked about positive aspects of training, the most common answer related to GP supervisors and practice colleagues.
When asked about negative aspects, on the other hand, registrars most commonly cited a lack of support for exam preparation.
More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that the government does tend to listen to the results of this survey.
In 2021, four out of five registrars called for portable leave entitlements; the Department of Health responded with funding for a feasibility study looking into just that.
The registrar survey closes on 18 August.
