Patient reported outcome measures in geriatric care: first experiences

Abstract

There are difficulties in expressing the value of geriatric care in outcome measures such as recovery or mortality rates. Rather, the goal of geriatric care is to maintain quality of life and functionality. As such, patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) may be more effective in measuring the value healthcare creates in geriatric patients. In 2015 the Dutch Geriatrics Society asked their Committee Quality of Care Measurement to select asuitable PROM for the purpose of measuring the outcomes of geriatric hospital care. The goal of this PROM is to measure outcomes of an hospital admission in the perspective of the elderly patient who was admitted to ageriatric ward. Agroup of caregivers in geriatric care identified four possible PROMs in the literature and based on selection criteria the TOPICS-MDS was chosen as most suitable. To increase the feasibility of implementation in daily practice, an item reduction study was performed and this resulted in ashort form: TOPICS-SF. Two pilot studies in three hospitals took place on ageriatric ward. Aresponse of 62% was observed during the first pilot with TOPICS-MDS and aresponse of 37% was observed during the second pilot with TOPICS-SF. The Katz-15 improved during hospital stay and during one month at home after discharge. The TOPICS-SF has been selected as PROM for the older patient receiving geriatric care and is feasible in practice. More research in different settings and with different moments of measurements is needed to evaluate the responsiveness of TOPICS-SF and the conditions for feasible implementation in daily practice.