Examining the use and implementation of real-time patient feedback programs

Real-time patient feedback initiatives collect data during a patient’s admission to a health facility or shortly after discharge and may also be referred to as near real-time feedback initiatives. These initiatives may have the potential to improve patient safety and outcomes, increase shared decision-making, and inform professional, organizational, and policy learning to improve health systems. Taking stock of the definitions, features and impacts of real-time patient feedback initiatives, as well as their barriers and facilitators to implementation, can help inform policymakers’ efforts to develop future real-time patient feedback approaches.