Barriers and Benefits to the Use of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures in Routine Clinical Care: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) provide information on how health care affects patient health and well-being and represent a patient-centered approach. Despite this potential, PROs are not widely used in clinical settings. Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with 3 stakeholder groups (patients, providers, and health care administrators) to determine the top 5 perceived barriers and benefits of PRO implementation. The Delphi technique was employed to obtain consensus and rank order responses. Patients perceived survey length to be important, whereas providers and administrators perceived time to collect data and patient health literacy, respectively, as the greatest barriers to PRO implementation. The greatest perceived benefits were the ability to track changes in clinical symptoms over time, improved quality of care, and better disease control among patients, providers, and administrators, respectively. These results may guide the development of novel frameworks for PRO implementation by addressing perceived barriers and building on the perceived benefits to encourage adoption of PROs.

Keywords: Delphi technique; focus groups; patient-reported outcome measures.