Jordi Alonso is the director of Epidemiology and Public Health, IMIM-Hospital del Mar Institut d’Investigacions Mèdiques of Barcelona. He was the president of AQuAS’ Scientific Committee (2006-2012)
The PRO-Patient Reported Outcomes allow us to actively incorporate the patient perspective in clinical decision making. PRO are measurements of health as perceived by patients and the population, including (not exclusively) symptoms, functions, the perception of health, the quality of life when related to the health services and the satisfaction with the treatments. Its incorporation into clinical and epidemiological research is consolidated. However, despite the evidence of potential benefits [Valderas JM, Alonso J & Guyatt GH, 2008], PRO is very little used in clinical practice. Real time measurements of patients’ welfare, functionality and preferences have a very significant potential to inform health care system and contribute to effective benchmarking. Since about five years ago, the National Health Service in England has promoted the routine use of PROs in certain pathologies with an additional purpose: to allow comparisons between healthcare providers, with the hope that the information provided would increase both productivity by avoiding unnecessary treatments, as well as quality, through the redesign of services or patient choice [Black N, 2013]. Continue reading