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Patient-based health status measurement in clinical practice: a study of its impact on epilepsy patients' care

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Abstract

The objective was to assess the potential benefits of the routine use of the MOS SF-36 Health Survey (SF-36) in the care of ambulatory patients. The design was a longitudinal, prospective, randomized, controlled study set in the outpatient neurology clinic at the New England Medical Center. There were 163 consecutive patients with epilepsy who had 210 follow-up visits with one of two epileptologists. The patients completed the SF-36 before the patient-physician encounter and the forms were optically scanned. The SF-36 results of the intervention group patients were given to the physicians before the encounter and withheld for control group patients. For intervention group patients, the physicians completed a questionnaire assessing the impact of the SF-36 on the process of care. After the visit, all patients completed a satisfaction questionnaire. The main outcome measures were the physicians' responses to standardized questions about the usefulness of the SF-36 for communication with and management of epilepsy patients and the patients' responses to standardized questions about their satisfaction with care. The physicians indicated that the SF-36 provided new information in 63% of the intervention group encounters. A change in therapy was prompted in 13%. The physicians rated the SF-36 as at least moderately useful for communication in 14% of the encounters and to management in 8%. The lower (indicating worse health status) the patients' SF-36 scale scores, the more useful the SF-36 results were rated by the physicians for communication and management. It was concluded that the routine use of health status measures may enhance patients' care.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Health Institute, New England Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Anita K Wagner, Diane J Cynn & William H Rogers

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA

    Kathleen M Bungay

  3. Department of Neurology, New England Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Bruce L Ehrenberg & Teresa A Tran

Authors
  1. Anita K Wagner
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  2. Bruce L Ehrenberg
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  3. Teresa A Tran
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  4. Kathleen M Bungay
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  5. Diane J Cynn
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  6. William H Rogers
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Wagner, A.K., Ehrenberg, B.L., Tran, T.A. et al. Patient-based health status measurement in clinical practice: a study of its impact on epilepsy patients' care. Qual Life Res 6, 329–341 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018479209369

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