PROs from the Patient Point of View: Results of Qualitative Interview Regarding Patient-Reported Outcomes Open Access (recommended)

Descriptions

Keyword

PROMs
PROs
Patient-Reported Outcomes

Rights

Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States

Creator

Nelson, Therese Allen

Abstract

IntroductionThe use of Patient-Reported Outcome (PRO) measures in the clinical setting can help clinicians track patient symptoms and function over time, elevating the voice of patients in their own care. However, given their more recent introduction into clinical care, it is unclear how patients view PRO questionnaires and why patients often fail to complete PROs in advance of their clinical appointments. This report shares the patient view of PROs, the challenges they identified, and a prioritized list of recommendations.MethodsThe Electronic Health Record (EHR) Access to Seamless Integration of PROMIS (EASI-PRO) consortium consists of nine universities integrating PROs into EHRs. To learn about patient viewpoints, EASI-PRO researchers conducted 23 patient interviews across five clinics at one site. Transcripts were reviewed to examine patient experiences regarding PRO completion, reactions to PRO questions, and physician interaction. ResultsPatients noted a number of barriers to PRO completion, including a lack of patient portal access, email overload resulting in difficulty identifying important messages, confusion between PROs and healthcare satisfaction surveys, challenging physical health, and technical factors. Patients advised how to make PRO requests more likely to be answered. Patients expressed confusion regarding the purpose of PROs and how they would be used and voiced a desire to learn how results would impact their clinical care. Patients reported that PRO measures themselves were generally understandable but they described some difficulty with interpreting answers and matching those answers to the nuance of their experience. PRO length and content were appropriate. Comments demonstrated the importance of selecting PRO measures that are highly relevant to the patient population. Patients reported that completing PRO measures can result in feelings of introspection and gratitude. Patients expressed a strong desire for quick communication of concerning scores even outside of appointment times and voiced their hope that physicians would utilize PRO results to enhance their care. Many patients assumed that the physician would take their PRO results into account and use results to prepare for their medical appointments.ConclusionIn our study, most patients were quite willing to complete PROs, but barriers to completion hampered their response. This report presents practical, prioritized recommendations to address barriers, such as revising the call center script, creating descriptive messages, setting tablets at maximum time-out, communicating expected PRO completion time and framing PROs as a way to give providers more information before they start a face-to-face visit so that the time is maximized, informing patients about the purpose of PROs and their role and importance in clinical care, and refraining from using the word survey. Recommendations also focus on patient desires concerning use of PROs in patient care, encouraging clinicians to acknowledge PRO completion and use in the clinical setting.

Publisher

DigitalHub. Galter Health Sciences Library & Learning Center

Date Created

9-17-2020

Language

English

Total Items

1

Size

204 KB