ASO Author Reflections: Using Patient-Reported Outcomes to Optimize Care of the Surgical Oncology Patient

Excerpt

Traditional measures of surgical quality and effectiveness have concentrated on rates of morbidity, mortality, cancer recurrence, and disease-specific and overall survival. While these outcomes are quantifiable and easily obtainable, they do not inherently capture the patient’s perspective of their illness and treatment.1 Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) elicit facets of a patient’s health status and are direct links to the patient’s perception of their care. As measures of healthcare quality increasingly become patient-centered, the patient-provider relationship has evolved to recognize the importance of PROs in improving healthcare delivery and efficiency.2 Numerous assessment tools have been developed and validated for use in patient care over the past several decades. …