Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) allow patients to provide their perspective about their health and the health services that they receive. Often, PROs seek to garner data that only patients themselves can provide, such as a condition’s impact on quality of life or pain. Gathering data about PROs can help stakeholders in the health system improve policies and services to meet the needs of patients. The use of PROs can be differentiated into three settings: patient care, hospitals or healthcare system, and population or regional level. PROs provide valuable information in each setting to help improve the understanding and quality of care being delivered to patients.
The questionnaires, or instruments, that measure PROs are called patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). These can be either generic, which measures an individual’s well-being across many dimensions, or can be condition-specific, which asks questions that are specific to a disease or intervention.
Find out more information about PROMs, view examples of PROMs, or access our resources.