title: What is the potential for the use of clinical outcome measures to be computerised? Findings from a qualitative research study.
abstract: Clinical outcome measures are used in clinical audit to monitor the quality of care provided to patients. As information technology (IT) is increasingly being integrated into the delivery of health care, computerising the use of clinical outcome measures has been proposed. However, little is known about the attitudes of health professionals towards this. Aims to understand professionals' views on adapting one clinical outcome measure--the palliative care outcome scale (POS)--for use on hand-held computers. Concludes that these results reinforce existing research on clinical outcome measures and IT in health care; identify special palliative care issues when considering the use of computerised clinical outcome measures with patients; and highlight the need for further research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Palliative Care and Policy, King's College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Rhidian A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sinha
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aspinal
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dunckley
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Addington-Hall
authors.forename: Irene J
authors.initials: IJ
authors.lastname: Higginson
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001292:Attitude to Computers; D034201:Computers, Handheld / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008131:London; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000379:methods*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction