title: Measuring outcomes in hand surgery.
abstract: Outcomes research in hand surgery provides patients and providers with objective, reliable information to assist in making medical decisions. Endpoint measures in outcomes research and the instruments used to evaluate these endpoints are often specific to a particular disease or region. Hand surgery has many different measurable outcomes that can be used to monitor the quality of surgical practice, inform practice guidelines, and aid in the appropriate allocation of healthcare resources. In this article, we review some research techniques available to study the following surgical outcomes of the hand: national trends in surgical care, surgical complications, objective measures of hand function, patient-reported measures of hand function, and economic burden.
authors.affiliation: Section of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Michigan, The University of Michigan Medical Center, 2130 Taubman Center, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0340, USA. aalder@umich.edu
authors.forename: Amy K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Alderman
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D019992:Databases as Topic; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006225:Hand / Q000601:surgery*; D006230:Hand Injuries / Q000191:economics / Q000601:surgery; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012109:Research Support as Topic