Short form version of the Quality of Trauma Care Patient-Reported Experience Measure (SF QTAC-PREM)

Abstract

Objective: To enable the valid and reliable measurement of patient experiences we previously published a multicenter multi-center validation of the Quality of Trauma Care Patient-Reported Experience Measure (QTAC-PREM). The purpose of this study was to derive a simplified, short form version of the QTAC-PREM to further enhance the feasibility of measuring patient experiences in injury care. To identify candidate items for the short form we reviewed the results of the original multi-center long form validation cohort study, which included 400 injury care patients and their family members recruited from three trauma centers. We only included the best performing items on the revised short form. Results: The acute care component of the measure was shortened by 30% and the post-acute care component was shortened by 42%. We identified two subscales on the acute measure (information and communication; clinical and ancillary care) and one subscale on the post-acute measure (post-discharge information and communication). The measurement properties of the short form measure were similar to that of the validated long form. This short form assessment of patient injury care experiences offers a useful, practical, and easy tool for trauma centers to implement for service evaluation, quality improvement, and injury care research.