Sarah Davis et al., Identifying potential outcomes of patient engagement in primary care quality improvement: a modified Delphi study, 31 J. Evaluation Clin. Prac. (2024).
Rationale: A barrier to dedicating resources towards patient engagement in primary
care quality improvement is the lack of clearly identified outcomes that might result
from these initiatives.
Aims and objectives: We sought to identify these potential outcomes at three
healthcare levels as defined by the Institute of Medicine: 1) Micro/Direct Care; 2)
Meso/Microsystem; and 3) Macro/Clinic/System using a Modified Delphi technique.
Method: Two focus groups of patients and primary care clinician leaders generated a
first set of outcomes. These outcomes were then vetted and expanded through
three web‐based surveys sent to twelve national experts. Experts indicated the level
of agreement with prior elicited outcomes and generated potential new outcomes.
Results: Included outcomes achieved at least 80% agreement. The final list of
46 consensus‐derived outcomes was categorized across levels. 22 were at the
Micro‐level, 9 were at the Meso‐level, and 15 were at the Macro‐level.
Conclusion: Our findings suggest outcomes across all health system levels have the
potential for progress when patients are engaged in primary care quality improvement
initiatives. Future programs should consider validating and measuring these
outcomes as part of their interventions.
