Pilot study demonstrates the feasibility of collecting and utilising patient-reported data, and showed there are benefits of doing so.
A pilot study in implementing ICHOM (International Consortium on Healthcare Outcomes Measurement) standards in Parkinson’s disease run by the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (ABUHB) in Wales, demonstrated the feasibility of collecting and utilising patient-reported data, and showed there are benefits of doing so.
Now ABUHB is planning to scale the Parkinson’s disease pilot to five further sites. In addition, the programme will be extended to four other ICHOM standard sets in heart failure, cataracts, stroke and lung cancer.
ABUHB is to be part of ICHOM’s programme of international benchmarking in cataracts, allowing global comparisons of patient-centered outcomes.
From the case study: The early benefits were clear to all involved. Patient information collated via ICHOM-standard patient-reported outcomes measurements (Proms) was immediately available to clinicians, streamlining history-taking and focussing the consultation on what matters most to the patient.
There were limited delays within the clinic, as the collection of patient data occurred outside physician-facing time, and remaining data items were pulled from pre-existing clinical and administrative data sources.
In particular, the Proms tool has an early question that re-orders the subsequent questions based on what had been bothering the patient most in the recent past. Getting patients to complete Proms questions on tablet computers in the waiting room stimulates patients to talk to each other and helps them structure their thinking prior to their appointments.
Other key pieces of information, such as reports of drug adverse reactions and allergies, are more readily available and understandable because there is a common data entry format across domains.
As a result of the pilot, ABUHB decided to divide clinics by patient cohort. This will mean clinicians with particular understanding of patient needs, for example, of a newly diagnosed patient, versus a patient with a complex established diagnosis, can be assigned to the different clinics. It will also mitigate the distress new patients feel when attending clinics with patients with visibly more complicated, advanced disease.
Access the report: http://www.ichom.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ABUHB-Case-Study-v11.pdf
Receive the Funding Newswire each Tuesday, our Policy Bulletin each Thursday, and news about bridging Europe’s east-west innovation gap twice a month in The Widening. 
A unique international forum for public research organisations and companies to connect their external engagement with strategic interests around their R&D system.