Measuring Outcomes in Oncology Treatment: The Importance of Patient-Centered Outcomes

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An important component of quality healthcare is that it be patient-centered with a focus on the patient, including his or her preferences, values, and beliefs. The goal of this article is to provide a broad overview of patient-centered outcomes in oncologic research. It starts with an introduction to the different types of patient-centered measures including patient satisfaction, decision regret, patient preference, and health-related quality of life. It then offers an overview of survey instrument design and selection. Finally, it provides examples of existing approaches to measurement and previously validated instruments for each type of patient-centered outcome.

Section snippets

Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction is the emotional or cognitive evaluation of a health encounter by a patient as defined by a set of events or experiences. This may be defined by the essential components of the encounter itself (ie, services rendered), or the manner or context in which they are delivered. These definitions highlight the fact that satisfaction is a highly subjective outcome to measure, but important nonetheless. In health care, too often it is forgotten that the patient is a consumer and his

Measures

Patient-centered outcomes can be classified into two major categories: generic or disease-specific measures. There are advantages and disadvantages to each type of measure that must be considered. Generic measures are comprehensive and assess the overall impact, independent of specific disease type, treatment, or patient population. Condition-specific measures tend to be more sensitive tools that are designed to capture symptoms that are specific to a given medical condition and the direct

Summary

Patient-centered outcomes research has become an integral part of clinical oncologic research. Since the mid 1980s, there has been a clear paradigm shift toward patient-centered definitions of what constitutes quality healthcare and successful treatment. In surgical oncology, a cure is not always possible. Patient-centered outcomes, however, provide the tools to ensure the highest quality care is provided to prolong life in a meaningful manner as judged by patients.

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