Abstract
Within healthcare services, there is increasing emphasis to incorporate patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), rather than relying solely on clinical outcomes. A 12-item caries-specific measure (CARIES-QC) has been developed and validated for children aged 5–16 years. To date, the routine use of PROMs in paediatric dentistry new patient clinics (NPC) has not been reported. The aim was to conduct a pilot study to assess the feasibility, utility and validity of routine use of a PROM in paediatric dentistry NPC in a UK teaching hospital. Children attending NPC over a four-week period were asked to complete CARIES-QC with an additional free-text box. Interviews were held with members of staff to assess the feasibility of using a PROM routinely. CARIES-QC was completed by 99 children. Almost half of the participants had caries (n = 49, 49.5%). CARIES-QC demonstrated good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.9) and reliability with the global question (r = 0.75, p = 0.01). Clinical staff valued the information provided by the PROM. An electronic delivery method would be beneficial to both clinical and administrative staff. CARIES-QC was able to capture impacts for children with a range of oral conditions. Its use aided treatment planning and future studies should investigate the use of an electronic delivery system to reduce the administrative burden.
Highlights
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are “any report of the status of a patient’s health condition that comes directly from the patient without interpretation of the patient’s response by a clinician or anyone else” [1]
Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) used in clinical settings can aid clinicians’ understanding of how treatment and diseases impact upon those who experience them [3]
The PROM (CARIES-QC) performed well and staff members expressed generally positive feelings regarding its introduction to clinics
Summary
Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are “any report of the status of a patient’s health condition that comes directly from the patient without interpretation of the patient’s response by a clinician or anyone else” [1]. PROMs used in clinical settings can aid clinicians’ understanding of how treatment and diseases impact upon those who experience them [3]. Clinicians’ interest in obtaining patients’ perspective on their health and wellbeing, through the use of PROMs, may make the patients feel that the medical team are more involved and invested in their individual care [3]. This relies on the ability of the clinical team to use the data provided and for it to be presented in a way that is useful to them
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