The use of patient based outcome measures in clinical decision making.

OBJECTIVE

Three questions were proposed in this presentation. 1) How can existing quality of life measures be used most effectively now? (2) What additional work is needed in their development or application? (3) Can existing data be used for secondary analyses of 'generic questions' concerning the relationships between oral health and quality of life outcomes?

CONCLUSIONS

The availability of existing measures can provide directions for future refinement particularly if existing measures are tested across diverse populations and within the community of practising dentists. Additionally the use of existing data for secondary data analysis of 'generic questions' could provide information which would help to sharpen the instruments. However, if patient based outcome measures are to be used in clinical decision making the clinical community must be involved in the development of instruments which are seen as useful to clinicians. A shift toward health status assessments, in order to be accepted by clinicians, must benefit patients and enhance the clinician's ability to function. For clinicians to embrace this idea it must be clear how they can use this information to design therapeutic interventions. The argument for the use of these measures must be made on practical not theoretical grounds. Therefore it is important to prove to clinicians that measuring health status is useful in improving patient care and that these measures are tools in the service of their patients.