Measuring Patient Satisfaction With Advanced Practice Clinicians: Identifying a Critical Gap in Palliative Care Measurement Instruments

ContextMedical advancements have led to patients living longer, often with serious illness(es), making palliative care involvement prudent. To address the deficit of specialty palliative care clinicians, the integration of advanced practice clinicians (APCs) alongside physicians is a critical workforce shortage solution. However, a gap exists in the standardized methods for evaluation of patient satisfaction with APCs in this setting.ObjectivesThis paper evaluates the existing instruments measuring patient satisfaction with APCs to highlight the current gap in palliative care-specific tools and assess their potential for adaptation.MethodsTo identify appropriate instruments focused on patient satisfaction with APCs a literature review was completed searching for instruments pertaining to patient experience and satisfaction with APCs. Three relevant instruments were identified: the Nurse Practitioner Satisfaction Survey (NPSS), the Art of Medicine Survey, and Patient Satisfaction Survey with Physician Assistants in a Fast Track Emergency Department.ResultsOf these, only the NPSS underwent formal psychometric testing, demonstrating both validity and internal consistency.ConclusionsThe review identified a paradox in which the validated instrument, NPSS, was utilized much less than the non-validated Art of Medicine survey. This review also highlights a significant gap in validated and reliable instruments to measure patient satisfaction with APCs, particularly in the palliative care context. There is a critical need to develop or adapt a psychometrically sound instrument for the palliative care patient population to ensure high-quality, patient-centered care.