Page 16 - Let them speak Towards a patient reported outcome measure set for
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Chapter 1
Figure 2. Clinical outcome assessments, including PROs and PROMs.
PROMs in care and research
PROMs can be utilized for multiple purposes. In clinical care, PROMs assess
patients’ symptoms and functioning from the patients’ perspective. Patients
complete PROMs before the consultation; results are then shared with the
healthcare professional and discussed during the consultation. PROMs are
therefore valuable for monitoring health, screening for problems, facilitating
shared-decision making, and establishing treatment goals (26-28). They also
encourage patients to reflect on their own health and raise health problems
with their clinician (29). PROMs have demonstrated benefits in different
clinical care settings such as oncology and primary care, improving symptom
management, patient-clinician communication, and health-related quality
of life of patients (30, 31). In the Netherlands, the KLIK PROM portal (www.
hetklikt.nu) was developed and implemented across hospitals to monitor,
identify, and discuss the health and daily functioning of patients with various
conditions (32). KLIK has proven to be effective for systematic monitoring
and discussing PROs in clinical care (33, 34). Despite all promising results of
PROM use in clinical care, some limitations still remain, such as technological
barriers and healthcare professionals’ uncertainty about how to interpret and
discuss PROM results with patients (35).
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