Department of Surgery, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Largo A Gemelli, 8 - 00168, Rome, Italy.
Health Qual Life Outcomes. 2010 Apr 23;8:43. doi: 10.1186/1477-7525-8-43.
Health-related quality of life (QoL) has become a crucial outcome in medical care. However, few studies have assessed physician knowledge of QoL and rate of physicians adopting QoL measures in clinical practice. The present study aimed at assessing the level of knowledge of QoL and the perceived importance of incorporating QoL assessment in clinical practice among physicians of a tertiary level academic hospital in Rome, Italy.
A survey study performed through the distribution of a questionnaire assessing knowledge of QoL studies that used the SF-36 scale, participation in studies evaluating QoL as well as knowledge of journals publishing articles on QoL Physicians and residents at the hospital Policlinico Gemelli, Catholic University of Rome.
Three-hundred nine physicians completed the questionnaire. Thirty-eight percent % reported knowing studies on QoL and using their results in clinical practice or for research purposes; 29% reported knowing the SF-36 questionnaire; 30% stated that at least one study assessing QoL had been conducted in their department. Fourty-six percent % stated that QoL must influence much or very much diagnostic choices and an even higher percentage reported that QoL must influence much or very much therapeutic and palliative strategies (70.8% and 91.3%, respectively). Reported barriers to the use of QoL measures in clinical practice were related to time constraints (8.7%) but also to doubts on methodological issues of QoL (30.7%). The large majority of physicians (94.3%) would have used more expensive drugs if these could improve QoL.
The present study shows that in a tertiary level academic italian hospital one third of the physicians, reported to know QoL measures and that more than 80% of them would like to use QoL in their daily clinical practice. Future studies are needed to identify the best strategies to implement the use of QoL measures in clinical practice.
健康相关生活质量（QoL）已成为医疗保健的重要结果。然而，很少有研究评估医生对 QoL 的知识水平以及医生在临床实践中采用 QoL 措施的比率。本研究旨在评估意大利罗马一所三级学术医院医生对 QoL 的知识水平以及将 QoL 评估纳入临床实践的重要性。
通过分发调查问卷进行调查研究，评估对使用 SF-36 量表的 QoL 研究的知识、参与评估 QoL 的研究以及对发表 QoL 文章的期刊的了解。该问卷分发给罗马天主教大学 Gemelli 综合医院的医生和住院医师。
309 名医生完成了问卷。38%的医生报告说了解 QoL 研究并将其结果用于临床实践或研究目的；29%的医生报告说了解 SF-36 问卷；30%的医生表示他们所在部门至少进行过一项评估 QoL 的研究。46%的医生表示 QoL 必须对诊断选择产生很大或非常大的影响，甚至有更高比例的医生表示 QoL 必须对治疗和姑息策略产生很大或非常大的影响（分别为 70.8%和 91.3%）。报告的将 QoL 措施用于临床实践的障碍与时间限制（8.7%）有关，但也与 QoL 的方法学问题有关（30.7%）。绝大多数医生（94.3%）表示如果昂贵的药物能改善 QoL，他们会使用这些药物。
本研究表明，在意大利一所三级学术医院中，三分之一的医生报告了解 QoL 措施，超过 80%的医生希望在日常临床实践中使用 QoL。需要进一步研究来确定将 QoL 措施用于临床实践的最佳策略。
