A National Survey of Health Care Professionals’ Use and Perception of Patient-Reported Outcomes (EORTC QLQ-C15-PAL) in the Patient Trajectory in Specialized Palliative Care

Abstract

Objective

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and their integration into clinical practice are important topics in health care. However, little is known about health care professionals’ (HCPs) perception and use of PROMs. We therefore investigated the use of PROMs by HCPs in specialized palliative care (SPC) and how PROM data are perceived by these HCPs.

Method

A survey was sent to the heads of SPC services in Denmark (N = 41), asking them to distribute the survey to their HCPs with patient contact.

Results

The survey (N = 160) showed that 75% of the HCPs reported that they looked at PROM responses from at least 75% of the patients in whom PROMs had been performed prior to the first consultation, whereas the proportion of HCPs looking at PROM responses was lower for subsequent contacts (45%-51%). Sixty percent of the HCPs reported that they used PROMs in the first consultation, and around 40% compared a completed PROM from the first consultation with PROMs done in later consultations. Many HCPs experienced that PROMs gave them knowledge about the patient's situation (89%), was meaningful (86%), and that they understood how and why PROMs were used (92%). According to most HCPs, patients understood why they completed a PROM (84%), and patients found the completion meaningful (70%). Few differences between health professions were found.

Conclusions

In Denmark, PROMs are often part of the first SPC consultation and generally used in dialogue with the patient. However, increased integration of PROMs is needed later in the palliative trajectory.