Helping measure person-centred care
A review of evidence about commonly used approaches and tools used to help measure person-centred care
Key points
- Although many tools are available to measure person-centred care, there is no agreement about which tools are most worthwhile.
- There is no ‘silver bullet’ or best measure that covers all aspects of person-centred care. Combining a range of methods and tools is likely to provide the most robust measure of person-centred care.
Person-centred, individualised, personalised, patient-centred, family-centred, patient-centric and many other terms have been used to signal a change in how health services engage with people. This rapid review summarises research about measuring the extent to which care is person-centred.
Three key questions guided the review:
- How is person-centred care being measured in healthcare?
- What types of measures are used?
- Why and by whom is measurement taking place?
The review signposts to research about commonly used approaches and tools to help measure person-centred care. It aims to showcase the many tools available.
A spreadsheet listing 160 of the most commonly researched measurement tools accompanies the review (see the Learn More section below). This allows users to search according to the type of tool, who it targets and the main contexts it has been tested in. Hyperlinks to the abstracts of examples of research using each tool are also provided.