[Patient and population participation in the healthcare system: On the (im)possibility of a comprehensive survey].

In its resolution on social participation, the World Health Assembly called on member states to involve patients and the population in decision-making processes in the healthcare system. Furthermore, the resolution calls for the monitoring of participation processes. The survey of examples of participation in the context of health, which was carried out in 2023, comes closest to such monitoring for Austria. The article summarises lessons learned from the survey.The learning experiences are based on the analysis of process-produced data from a questionnaire survey on examples of patient and population participation in the healthcare system commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Social Affairs, Health, Care and Consumer Protection in Austria. Data included were pretest results, workshop protocols to reflect on the survey instrument and results as well as limitations in the survey report. The contents of the documents included were paraphrased and analysed thematically.The results of the questionnaire survey showed that central to the planning and implementation of a survey were (1) the objective of the survey, including clarification of the objective and the areas to be covered, (2) the target group, including clarification of the target group and requirements adapted to it, and (3) reaching the target group, including motivators, choice of words and dissemination channels. The learning experiences were summarised in ten key questions for the development of similar survey instruments.A survey of examples of participation is possible and provides an overview of which groups are involved in which areas and how. Without concrete specifications as to which groups should be involved, the survey remains exploratory and does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about representativeness. The design of the survey is also caught between breadth (short questionnaire with potentially high response rate) and depth (long questionnaire with lower response rate). The checklist presented here is intended to support similar surveys. Without an orientation framework as to where participation should take place and who acts as the contact person for these processes, such surveys remain exploratory.