Clinical Potential of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Occupational Therapy

Abstract

This column advocates the clinical potential of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) to advance value for occupational therapy patients and the profession. It positions PROMs in the context of value-based health care, provides an overview of emerging applications of PROMs for individual patient care, and introduces clinical advantages of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System. Occupational therapy practitioners should leverage the opportunities afforded by regulatory initiatives that include PROMs to meaningfully and equitably amplify the patient’s voice in clinical contexts. What This Article Adds: This column highlights why occupational therapy practitioners should consider using patient-reported outcome measures in their everyday clinical practice.

Implementing an Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome and Decision Support Tool in Early Intervention

“…8 Electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PROs) can serve as an informatics tool for including the child and family perspective regarding their needs and priorities when designing and evaluating services. 9 10 In EI, e-PROs can be used in direct service provision to consider family needs and priorities for tailoring the development of the individualized family service plan (IFSP) that should include functional goals and strategies for goal attainment based on family-identified priorities and inclusive of their expertise. Some e-PROs can also be useful for tracking progress to guide shared and data-driven decisions about tailoring interventions with families.…”

“…Some e-PROs can also be useful for tracking progress to guide shared and data-driven decisions about tailoring interventions with families. 10 In both cases, e-PROs support equitable services via quantifiable estimates from the family that are consistent in the information they capture and minimize the need for clinician interpretation (and implicit bias). 10 Beyond their benefits to individual-level services, e-PROs yield data that can be aggregated for conducting robust health services and implementation research, to demonstrate the value of EI services and guide decisions for improving these services.…”

“… 10 In both cases, e-PROs support equitable services via quantifiable estimates from the family that are consistent in the information they capture and minimize the need for clinician interpretation (and implicit bias). 10 Beyond their benefits to individual-level services, e-PROs yield data that can be aggregated for conducting robust health services and implementation research, to demonstrate the value of EI services and guide decisions for improving these services. 10 11 While there are challenges to appraising and implementing e-PROs in pediatric contexts like EI, 11 12 13 14 15 they hold promise for accelerating quality improvement of these services in programs with electronic data capture systems.…”