title: Patient- and clinician-rated outcome measures for clinical decision making in rehabilitation.
abstract: Outcome measures can be classified as clinician rated and patient rated. Clinician-rated measures predominantly assess impairments, whereas patient-rated measures, also known as patient-based measures, are designed to evaluate the impact of the injury on a patient's daily activities, work, and recreation. Currently, there is a greater reliance on clinician-rated impairment measures for clinical decision making, specifically with treatment planning and assessing outcomes of care. To comprehensively evaluate the effect of an injury, patient-rated outcome measures must be used because they allow for the assessment of a patient's ability to perform daily activities and participate in work and recreation that is affected by an injury. Clinician-rated impairment measures should be used to guide the development of a treatment program, and patient-rated measures should be used for both treatment program development and assessing treatment outcomes in daily clinical practice. The purposes of this article are to describe patient- and clinician-rated outcome measures and to provide guidance and illustrate the benefits of the use of these measures in clinical decision making and documenting outcomes of care.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Physical Therapy, Virginia Commonwealth University-Medical College of Virginia Campus, Richmond, VA, USA. lamichen@vcu.edu
authors.forename: Lori A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Michener
mesh_terms: D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003657:Decision Making; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D020127:Recovery of Function; D016896:Treatment Outcome