title: Stakeholder surveys of Canadian healthcare performance: what are they telling us? Who should be listening? Who should be acting, and how?
abstract: Eleven Health Care in Canada (HCIC) surveys, spanning 1998-2014, offer a comprehensive overview of the changing perceptions of physician, nurse, pharmacist, administrator and public stakeholders of the nation's health status, its burden of illness and its quality and cost of care. Overall, there persists a universal sense of quality in our health system--despite evidence that national health status is declining, chronic illnesses are increasing, patients' timely access to care and ability to afford care are diminishing and all these indicators are predicted to worsen over time. Among the public and health professionals, key priorities for improving future patient care are increasing professional schools' output and team-based care, along with enhanced use of national supply systems to reduce costs of care. Among HCIC survey partners, the overarching goal has been, and remains, the utilization of knowledge gained from the surveys to facilitate evidence-driven health policy and improved patient care and outcomes. Practical foci are the development of knowledge translation (KT) activities and assessment of their impact. This paper outlines current initiatives to track reach of member and non-member audiences for HCIC information; to ascertain how they perceive and value the various KT messages, vehicles and metrics; and to potentially identify a hierarchy of efficacy for impact factors. The primary objective is to inform future HCIC survey design and reporting, especially identification of KT vehicles and venues that are most effective in terms of reach and impact in facilitating understanding of, and subsequent action around, the knowledge generated.
authors.affiliation: Principal, Strive Health Management Consulting Inc., Halifax, NS.
authors.forename: Joanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nemis-White
authors.affiliation: Project Officer, CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, and Knowledge Translation Consultant to the HCIC Project, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Torr
authors.affiliation: PhD candidate and Research Assistant, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC.
authors.forename: Amede
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gogovor
authors.affiliation: Senior Research Consultant and Associate Vice President, POLLARA Strategic Insights, Toronto, ON.
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Marshall
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, with appointments in the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy, the University Health Center's Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Clinical and Health Informatics, and the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire en réadaptation, Montreal, QC.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: President, John Aylen Communications, and Lecturer in Marketing Communications, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal, QC.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aylen
authors.affiliation: Principal, CareNet Health Management Consulting Ltd., Edmonton, AB.
authors.forename: Terrence
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Montague
mesh_terms: D002170:Canada; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D058996:Quality Improvement; D011787:Quality of Health Care