Descrizione
Growing investments in healthcare do not necessarily produce corresponding
improvements in the perceived health of their recipients, whether individual
patients or society as a whole. Sometimes, even the opposite is true: growing
investments in healthcare lead to lower benefits perceived by patients. How to
quantify the health regained by patients? How to measure what for does it really
matter to them, when physical health is not fully recoverable? How to help
physician and administrators in identifying the correct objectives and
improvements? What scientific instruments can estimate the prospect of patient
and society in the allocation of limited resources?
The development of the PatientReported Outcome Measurements (PROMs) help answer many of these challenges,
offering a standardized tool to quantify and qualify the effectiveness of health
interventions from the point of view of the person concerned: the patient. This
book provides an introductory framework to the science of patient-reported
experience and outcomes, illustrating the need for them from a scientific, clinical,
historical and cultural point of view, their main applications in terms of healthcare
and allocation decisions, some significant national and international studies. Their
limitations and opportunities for development are also discussed. The aim is to
raise the awareness of practitioners, patients and students of their use in day-today practice, thereby contributing today to the development of the medicine of
tomorrow.