preview

Health Outcomes Of The World Health

Better Essays
Open Document

More than a century ago, the first health outcome measure was proposed by Florence Nightingale by classifying patients into relieved, unrelieved and dead (1). Other guides such as mortality rates have historically been used to measure health outcomes at a population level (2). However, the definition of health has changed in the past century to include a wider view of outcomes which includes freedom from disease, ability to perform daily activities, happiness, social and emotional well-being, and quality of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined health as “physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity” (3). As a result numerous measures have been developed in an attempt to quantify health. Health outcome measures are tools used to evaluate an individuals’ health using different health related parameters. Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs) are instruments that are completed by patients and capture one or more aspects of health (4, 5). The use of PROMs formally to monitor surgical outcomes in England has been an important development (6). Since 2007, the Department of Health has required the routine measurement of patient- reported health outcomes for all NHS patients via its PROMs programme (5, 6). PROMs are increasingly used in decision-making to encourage a patient-centered approach (5, 7). For this reason, PROMs must be valid, reliable, and clinically useful measures. There are over 100 PROMs applicable

Get Access