Abstract
BackgroundDespite the increasing emphasis on the role of glaucoma-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) as relevant outcome measures for the impact of glaucoma and its intervention on patients' daily lives, the feasibility of implementing PROMs in the routine clinical setting in Singapore remains undefined. We aim to evaluate the comprehensibility, acceptability, and relevance of four glaucoma-specific PROMs at healthcare professionals' and patients' level in a Singapore context.MethodsSixteen ophthalmic healthcare professionals and 24 glaucoma patients, with average age 60 years (SD = 15), were invited from a tertiary hospital in Singapore. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore participants’ perceptions on the content and administration of four glaucoma-specific PROMs - the Glaucoma Quality of Life-15, Glaucoma Symptom Identifier, Independent Mobility Questionnaire and Treatment Satisfaction Survey of Intra-ocular Pressure. Semi-structured interviews were hand transcribed, and analysed thematically. Each participant filled out a feasibility survey at the end of interview.Results79% of glaucoma patients and 94% of glaucoma healthcare professionals felt selected PROMs relevant to patients. 63% of glaucoma patients and 50% of healthcare professionals felt that selected PROMs were sufficiently comprehensive for clinical use. 46% of glaucoma patients and 56% of healthcare professionals felt selected PROMs were user-friendly.ConclusionsUsing PROMs in the Singapore clinical setting receives promising support from both healthcare professionals and patients. The identified potential barriers tailored to Singapore clinical setting will help successful implementation of PROMs into routine clinical care.
Highlights
Despite the increasing emphasis on the role of glaucoma-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) as relevant outcome measures for the impact of glaucoma and its intervention on patients' daily lives, the feasibility of implementing PROMs in the routine clinical setting in Singapore remains undefined
The increasing realization that clinical parameters alone are inadequate to assess health outcomes has resulted in the widespread use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) [6]
PROMs have been widely used as effectiveness endpoints for approved drug labels in the United States [7], and outcome assessment in clinical guideline development, as well as applied in the context of national audits [12], clinical governance and quality assurance [13], and integrated into routine clinical practice [14] and managing the performance of healthcare providers [15]
Summary
Despite the increasing emphasis on the role of glaucoma-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) as relevant outcome measures for the impact of glaucoma and its intervention on patients' daily lives, the feasibility of implementing PROMs in the routine clinical setting in Singapore remains undefined. We aim to evaluate the comprehensibility, acceptability, and relevance of four glaucoma-specific PROMs at healthcare professionals' and patients' level in a Singapore context. Disease-specific PROMs, as the gold standard for relevant endpoint measures of patients’ subjective experiences, are important to clinicians as feedback on the care they have provided and for assessing the quality of care provided by healthcare services. There is a plethora of PROMs with considerable heterogeneity amongst them, such as differing in terms of how the answers are scored, as well as the number, nature and the wording of the questions asked The quality of these PROMs instruments varies considerably in terms of their validity and reliability [16, 18]. Feedback from healthcare professionals on PROMs use is essential addition to any PROM development [21]
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