Patient reported outcome measures (PROMS) are used to collect information about the effectiveness of care from the perspective of the patient.
They are usually in the format of a questionnaire that patients complete before treatment and at the end of treatment. The initial questionnaire information can be used to inform patient assessments in general, as well as measuring important aspects of an individual’s experience of their condition. Follow up measurements are used to see to what extent the patient perceives that they have changed during the period of treatment. This information can then be used to feedback to individual practitioners about how their patients are responding to treatment, and also to inform the assessment of a particular clinical service as a whole.
The NHS is now widely using PROMS to measure of the quality of their services and identify where services can be enhanced (see http://www.hscic.gov.uk/proms for an example). It is anticipated that the General Osteopathic Council's (GOsC) ongoing fitness to practice scheme will include information collected from patients, which might include PROMs. Some private practitioners are also using PROMs to demonstrate the effectiveness of their service to the general public and in supporting information in bids to maintain NHS contracts. The UCO is also developing PROMs to evaluate patient services, generate data about treatment effects, and provide students with opportunities to experience using PROMs in practice. This study is being conducted in collaboration with Arthritis UK and involves developing an electronic version of their MSK health measure.
Aims
- To provide routine information on patient reported outcomes
- To provide practitioners with efficient ways of collecting patient reported outcome measures
- To provide practitioners with experiences of routine data collection that facilitate reflection and identifies opportunities for enhanced care
- To provide patients with the opportunity to provide feedback about their care