Measuring outcomes in outpatient child psychiatry: the contribution of electronic technologies and parent report.
The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of electronic technologies on the completion of a standardized rating form in an outpatient child psychiatry clinic, and the feasibility of adding a parent-report measure to the form. An electronic Outcomes Rating Form (e-ORF) was used in conjunction with a web-based patient tracking system and digital pens which allowed form data to be directly entered into a database. Clinician forms were collected for 87% of the 248 children seen for intake, a significant increase over the rate of 72% obtained in the same clinic with paper forms. Rating forms were also obtained from 85% of parents. Clinician- and parent-completed measures were moderately correlated with each other. This study showed that 1) the use of electronic technologies is associated with improved clinician completion rates; 2) it is possible to obtain rating forms from most parents; 3) clinician and parent measures provide related but distinct information; and 4) improvements in functioning found with clinician-report measures are corroborated by independent parent reports.
Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. mmurphy6@partners.org
J Michael
JM
Murphy
Bruce
B
Masek
Rebecca
R
Babcock
Michael
M
Jellinek
Joseph
J
Gold
Stacey
S
Drubner
Ken
K
Sklar
Karen
K
Hacker
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008490:Medical Informatics; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D010290:Parents; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results