Abstract
Purpose of review: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are now recognised as the most appropriate instruments to assess the effectiveness of healthcare interventions from the patient's perspective. The purpose of this review was to identify recent publications describing the use of PROMs following reconstructive urological surgery. Recent findings: A wide systematic search identified only three original articles published in the last 2 years that prospectively assessed effectiveness using a patient-completed condition-specific or generic health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instrument. These publications illustrate the need to administer PROMs at a postoperative interval relevant to the anticipated recovery phase of individual procedures. They also highlight the difference in responsiveness of generic HRQoL instruments to symptomatic improvement between straightforward conditions such as pelviureteric junction obstruction and complex multidimensional conditions such as meningomyelocele. Summary: PROMs uptake and awareness is increasing in reconstructive urology but more work is required to demonstrate the effectiveness of surgical procedures for patients and healthcare funders alike. Healthcare policy-makers now rely on these measures to determine whether specific treatments are worth financing and to compare outcomes between institutions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 495-499 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Current Opinion in Urology |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2010 |
Keywords
- health-related quality of life
- patient-reported outcome measures
- reconstructive surgical procedures