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Developing a Patient Survey to Measure Quality of Care for Rheumatoid Arthritis
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Scientific Study Title:

Development of a Patient-Centered Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Care Survey

Start Date: 

  • 2020

End Date:

  • 2022

Research Category

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Claire Barber
Research Scientist, Rheumatology, MD, PhD, FRCPC

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Why do this research?

Reason For Research

Monitoring the quality of care people with Rheumatoid Arthritis receive is important yet challenging. To address this challenge, we created the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Care Survey (RAQCS). The goal of this survey was to have a standardized way to measure the quality of care based on a set of quality measures. The measures used are outlined in a national quality improvement framework for rheumatoid arthritis. This study aimed to create and test a tool that could help health care providers understand how well they are meeting their patients’ needs according to these measures.

Methodology

Execution of Research

The creation of the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Care Survey involved three steps:

  1. A team of health care providers, researchers, and rheumatoid arthritis patients developed a survey. The survey was based on 21 quality measures, that covered important aspects of rheumatoid arthritis care, such as providing counselling for smoking cessation, exercise, and lifestyle habits.
  2. To ensure the questions were clear and appropriate, interviews were held with rheumatoid arthritis patients. Based on their feedback, the survey was revised.
  3. The survey was given to a group of rheumatoid arthritis patients who were part of a long-term study group called Rheum4U. The responses from the survey were compared with information from the patients’ medical records to see how well the survey’s findings matched real-world data.

Findings & Next Steps

  • 53 people completed the Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Care Survey.
  • For 13 out of 20 quality measures, the survey showed that 70% or more of the care provided met the expected standards.
  • There were areas identified where care could be improved, such as:
    • in recording patients’ body mass index (BMI),
    • smoking status,
    • discussing physical activity,
    • managing other health conditions alongside rheumatoid arthritis, and
    • assessing the severity of patients’ rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.

When comparing the survey results with the medical records, there was a high level of agreement for nine out of the 20 measures.

Related Publications

Sloss S, Dhiman K, Zafar S, Hartfeld NM, Lacaille D, Then KL, Li LC, Barnabe C, Hazlewood GS, Rankin JA, Hall M, Marshall DA, English K, Tsui K, MacMullan P, Homik J, Mosher D, Barber CEH. (2022). Development and testing of the rheumatoid arthritis quality of care survey. Seminars in arthritis and rheumatism, 54, 152002.

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