Lessons From Large Scale Collection of Patient Reported Outcomes: Implications for Big Data Aggregation and Analytics.
Awareness of patient reported outcomes (PROs) as vital elements for big data efforts to incorporate measures of patient's quality of life (QOL) into analysis of efficacy of care is emerging[1,2] PRO domains can include functional status, symptoms (intensity, frequency) satisfaction (with medication) multiple domains of well being, and global satisfaction with life. Today, virtually all validity issues for PROs have been either resolved or clear guidelines have been established [3 5] Although the value of using PRO's has been established, the challenge remains to measure QOL through PRO with the observational rigor of any other vital sign or lab test, yet with the ease of administration and rapid processing the clinical environment demands (Figure 1) Open in a separate window Figure 1 Vision for use of PROs as part of clinical decision frameworks
International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics