Picker Institute Services

The Picker Institute is dedicated to helping your organization improve the quality of care provided to all patients and consumers in your health care system.

The Picker Surveys – our method for understanding the patient experience:

Understanding how things look through the patient's eyes should be a central part of any quality improvement program. The Picker Institute has pioneered the use of carefully designed instruments to obtain detailed reports of patient's experience. Instead of asking patients to provide satisfaction ratings, the Picker surveys ask patients whether or not certain processes and events occurred during the course of a specific episode of care. Following extensive qualitative research to find out what patients thought about the way they were treated and what the problems were from their point of view, questionnaires were designed to focus on specific dimensions of patients' experience. These questionnaires have been used since 1987 in hospitals in the US and Canada, since 1994 in the UK, and since 1997 in Germany.

The Picker inpatient surveys distinguish eight dimensions of patient-centered care:

Access (including time spent waiting for admission or time between admission and allocation to a bed in a ward);
Respect for patient's values, preferences, and expressed needs (including impact of illness and treatment on quality of life, involvement in decision making, dignity, needs and autonomy);
Coordination and integration of care (including clinical care, ancillary and support services, and 'front-line' care);
Information, communication, and education (including clinical status, progress and prognosis, processes of care, facilitation of autonomy, self-care and health promotion);
Physical comfort (including pain management, help with activities of daily living, surroundings and hospital environment);
Emotional support and alleviation of fear and anxiety (including clinical status, treatment and prognosis, impact of illness on self and family, financial impact of illness);
Involvement of family and friends (including social and emotional support, involvement in decision making, support for care giving, impact on family dynamics and functioning);
Transition and continuity (including information about medication and danger signs to look out for after leaving the hospital, coordination and discharge planning, clinical, social, physical and financial support).

The questionnaire is designed to be analyzed by creating 40 dichotomous 'problem scores' indicating the presence or absence of a problem. These, in turn, can be summed into 'dimension scores' representing the groupings listed above. In addition, some 'rating' questions are usually included to assess patients' overall experience, and specific modules, for example for patients undergoing surgical procedures, can be added if required.

The Picker survey is administered in the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland.by a network of Picker Institute affiliates. In the United States and Canada the survey is administered by NRC+Picker.

Picker Institute is dedicated to enhancing Patient Centered care through research and education. It created the first scientifically based surveys in the field.
Subsequently NRC purchased the sole rights to the Picker Survey and has the exclusive right in the United States and Canada to survey using these instruments. Picker Institute remains a non-profit organization. NRC (or NRC+Picker) is a for profit business organization. The two organizations are completely independent of each other.

Research & Publications

The Picker Institute and its network of affiliates not only design and provide the highest quality patient survey instruments available, they are also actively involved in performing and sponsoring new and ongoing research to increase the understanding of best practices that will advance patient center-care objectives.

The network of Picker Institutes in the US, UK, Germany, and Switzerland are conducting new research on patient centered care topics.

PIE research listings and publications

PII 2006 Research Agenda

Instruction to help you provide “Best Practices”

Symposia:

Research, data collection and analysis are meaningless unless and until that information is converted into a “Best Practice Action Plan.” The Institute promotes education and sharing of “Best Practices” information.

Picker Institute Europe sponsors numerous symposia that are designed to showcase practical applications to support the implementation of "best practice" methodologies throughout the health care system.

"Through the Patient’s Eyes” – books, videos and DVD's:

The original ground-breaking work of the Picker/Commonwealth Program for Patient-Centered Care is documented in the comprehensive and definitive text on the topic, “Through the Patient’s Eyes – Understanding and Promoting Patient-Centered Care.” This highly praised publication is now available in paperback and can be ordered through the National Research Corporation.

Two videos and DVD's have also been produced as companion educational tools to be used in conjunction with the groundbreaking text.

Click here to learn more about ordering “Through the Patient’s Eyes” book, videos or DVD's>

Best Practice Factsheets:

The Picker Institute Europe produces factsheets featuring articles and best practice models for improving patient care in your facility.

For a direct link to a listing of these best practice factsheets click here >