title: Is there value in routine administration of outcome questionnaires?
abstract: METHODS
  Retrospective case-series of prospective routinely collected Short Form 36v2 (SF-36v2) data in an outpatient spine clinic.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine if there is value in routine administration of outcome questionnaires for the patient and/or clinician without a targeted population or monitoring of follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of Health Outcomes Scoring database.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During an 18-month period 1,863 patients completed 3,124 SF-36v2 questionnaires. The extent of diagnoses and the uneven timing of follow-ups of the completed questionnaires render this data useless both to the patient and for aggregate analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There is no value in routine administration of outcome questionnaires to patient care or clinical research.Final class of evidence-prognosisSTUDY DESIGN RCT Cohort Case control Case series•METHODs Patients at similar point in course of treatment F/U ≥ 85% Similarity of treatment protocols for patient groups• Patients followed up long enough for outcomes to occur• Control for extraneous risk factorsNAOverall class of evidenceIVThe definiton of the different classes of evidence is available on page 63.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Agel
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bransford