Patient-based health status measurement in clinical practice: a study of its impact on epilepsy patients' care.
The objective was to assess the potential benefits of the routine use of the MOS SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36) in the care of ambulatory patients. The design was a longitudinal, prospective, randomized, controlled study set in the outpatient neurology clinic at the New England Medical Center. There were 163 consecutive patients with epilepsy who had 210 follow-up visits with one of two epileptologists. The patients completed the SF-36 before the patient-physician encounter and the forms were optically scanned. The SF-36 results of the intervention group patients were given to the physicians before the encounter and withheld for control group patients. For intervention group patients, the physicians completed a questionnaire assessing the impact of the SF-36 on the process of care. After the visit, all patients completed a satisfaction questionnaire. The main outcome measures were the physicians' responses to standardized questions about the usefulness of the SF-36 for communication with and management of epilepsy patients and the patients' responses to standardized questions about their satisfaction with care. The physicians indicated that the SF-36 provided new information in 63% of the intervention group encounters. A change in therapy was prompted in 13%. The physicians rated the SF-36 as at least moderately useful for communication in 14% of the encounters and to management in 8%. The lower (indicating worse health status) the patients' SF-36 scale scores, the more useful the SF-36 results were rated by the physicians for communication and management. It was concluded that the routine use of health status measures may enhance patients' care.
Wagner
A K
AK
Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, MA 02111, USA.
Ehrenberg
B L
BL
Tran
T A
TA
Bungay
K M
KM
Cynn
D J
DJ
Rogers
W H
WH
D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000328:Adult; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires