title: Technical report: an ePRO patient reported outcome program for the evaluation of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patient reported outcome (PRO) is an important healthcare concept that describes patient's participation in their care by self-evaluation, usually in the form of questionnaires. This report describes an unique computerized technique, electronic PRO (ePRO), for following the progress of patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients first completed a series of questionnaires, including questions about their illness history, symptom severity, and, in this application, psychological and relationship issues. The symptom severity and psychological questionnaires were then completed at intervals by the patients on their own computers. The ePRO was constructed to allow scores to be automatically summed and placed on a time-line graph for review at the time of the next office visit.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 32 patients who completed the initial set of questionnaires, 20 maintained participation in the program for a 6-month period. Of those 20 patients, median number of submissions was 7.0; median interval between questionnaire submissions was 3.0 weeks, whereas median interval between office visits was 5.9 weeks. On average, questionnaire completion took less than 5 min and was positively experienced by the patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ePRO program proved to be technically feasible, clinically useful, and positively experienced by the patients. It provides a focus on a collaborative conversation between physician and patient. It has significant potential as a technique for evaluating outcome in response to various therapies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Gerson
authors.forename: M-J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Gerson
mesh_terms: D057286:Electronic Health Records; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010358:Patient Participation; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: ePRO; irritable bowel syndrome; psychological; symptom severity