Background The measurement of patient experiences is an important component of health services evaluation. Several countries now have programs of work that include national surveys of patients undertaken at regular intervals. The identification and review of large scale surveys of patient experiences including programs of work, will inform the organisation and design of future surveys aimed at comparing patient views of health care quality across countries.

Objective To identify and review national and cross-national surveys, including programs of work relating to patient experiences and satisfaction.

Methods Structured review of national and cross-national surveys of patient experiences of satisfaction for OECD and non-OECD European Union member countries undertaked from 1997 onwards. All patient groups and general population surveys were included. Searches of electronic databases and the web were undertaken and a link to an electronic questionnaire was sent to contact persons identified by the OECD. Published articles relating to national and cross-national surveys of patient experiences or satisfaction with health care were retrieved from the following databases: CINAHL, EMBASE, MED-LINE(R) and PsycINFO. On-line searches were used to identify websites relating to organizations involved in the measurement of patient experiences.

Results The searches of the electronic databases produced 2506 references from which 166 were obtained on the basis of the contents of the title or abstract. 55 surveys met the inclusion criteria, 42 of which were national and 13 were cross-national.

Conclusions There have been a large number of national and cross-national surveys of patient experiences, the majority of which are part of ongoing programs of work. It is recommended that those undertaking measurement of patient experiences draw upon this large volume of work as a means of informing future surveys and give consideration to: 1. Organisation and infrastructure including the potential for collaboration 2. Survey methodology 3. Questionnaires with evidence for data quality, reliability and validity including evidence for cross-cultural equivalence 4. Methods of reporting and dissemination of results to interested groups

The review’s main implications for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and its Health Care Quality Indicators Project relating to the cross-national measurement of patient experiences are to give consideration to: 1. Collaboration with individuals and groups that have been active in national and cross-national surveys and particularly infrastructure and programs of work 2. Survey methodology that can be implemented in a consistent way cross-nationally 3. Questionnaires that have evidence for data quality, reliability, and cross-cultural equivalence 4. Reporting of results including case-mix adjustment and presentation that recognises the needs of interested groups