Healthcare providers’ use of dashboards with patient reported outcomes reinforces patients to fill out patient reported outcome measures

Abstract

Background Patient reported outcomes are used to assess the impact of medical interventions on perceived health in both clinical trials and daily care. Further, patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) optimize the consultation. However, patient completion of PROMs before their consultation, and healthcare provider's (HCP) use of PROMs in their consultation are suboptimal. In this cross-sectional study, we examined whether viewing a PROM dashboard before or during consultation consecutively resulted in higher patient completion of PROMs. Methods As part of regular care, patients were asked to fill out PROMs prior their consultation. HCPs’ dashboard views were logged. A chi-square test was performed on dashboard viewed (yes/no) with consecutively filling out PROMs (yes/no). The odds ratio (OR) of consecutively filling out PROMs after a dashboard view was calculated. Results 38.016 consecutive appointments were linked to a previous appointment in which a dashboard could be viewed. In 2740 cases, a dashboard was viewed by the HCP, against 35.276 cases in which a dashboard was not viewed. Follow-up adherence in completing PROMs was 49%. The chi-square test showed statistical significance of p < .001. The OR of filling out a consecutive PROM when a dashboard was viewed was 3.16 ( p < .001, 95% CI [2.9–3.5]). Discussion Patients are more likely to complete PROMs for their follow-up appointment when an HCP has viewed PROMs during or before consultation. HCPs should be aware of their responsibility in addressing PROMs, because using PROMs in consultation does not only have a positive effect on communication, but also on patient completion of PROMs.