For the first time, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) has released patient experience survey data at the hospital level, shedding light on how Canadians feel about care received during their hospital stays.
Journalists in the 5 provinces where data is available can drill down and see how patients rated the experience of receiving care at 260 hospitals — giving them a snapshot of where hospitals are excelling and where there may be room for improvement.
The survey results provide feedback on a few specific experiences patients had during their hospital stay: communication with nurses, communication with doctors, involvement in decision-making and treatment options, information and understanding when leaving the hospital, and overall hospital experience. Looking at patient experience results alongside other information, like health measures and demographics, can help us better understand hospital visits and whether patients’ needs are being met.
“Equitable health care is vital for everyone,” said Anne O’Riordan, CIHI Patient Partner and Patient & Family Advisory Council member at Kingston Health Sciences Centre. “When health care providers work together with patients, positive changes that promote both healthier patients and care providers can be achieved, as well as a more robust and capable health care system.”
National results
Rolling up the results to give a national view of patient experience, the survey shows that most patients (2 out of 3 people) said that they had a positive hospital experience between April 2020 and March 2021. One of the main drivers of overall patient experience is satisfactory communication between health care providers and patients. Across the country, survey results show that
- 80% of patients said that doctors and nurses treated them with courtesy and respect.
- 55% of patients said that their own or their friends’ and family’s involvement in decisions about their care and treatment was very good.
- 61% of patients said that they had enough information and understanding when leaving the hospital.
“Patients are the ‘why’ behind all CIHI data. The release of hospital-level survey data is an exciting opportunity to drive better experiences and outcomes for patients — it’s only by measuring and learning from the findings that we can definitively know that patient experience is improving in communities across Canada,” said Mélanie Josée Davidson, Director, Health System Performance, CIHI.
Note: This release includes survey results from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta.
About CIHI’s patient experiences survey
The Canadian Patient Experiences Survey — Inpatient Care (CPES-IC) is the first pan-Canadian survey that collects comparable information from patients about their most recent hospital stay. The bilingual survey was developed by CIHI and has been tested and validated in the field. Accreditation Canada has endorsed the CPES-IC as a survey tool for use in accreditation in Canadian hospitals.
The survey is administered by participating provinces and hospitals, and data is subsequently submitted to CIHI. It enables patients to provide feedback about the quality of care they experienced during their most recent stay in a Canadian acute care hospital.
The survey results for 260 hospitals can be found in CIHI’s Your Health System (YHS) web tool , which also contains results for around 50 indicators of health system performance across Canada.
About CIHI
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing essential health information to all Canadians.
CIHI works closely with federal, provincial and territorial partners and stakeholders throughout Canada to gather, package and disseminate information to inform policy, management, care and research, leading to better and more equitable health outcomes for all Canadians.
Health information has become one of society’s most valuable public goods. For more than 25 years, CIHI has set the pace on data privacy, security, accessibility and innovation to improve Canada’s health systems.
CIHI: Better data. Better decisions. Healthier Canadians.
Media contacts
For English inquiries:
Stephanie Bright
289-981-8458
For French inquiries:
Claire Brassard
437-235-7918