The Power of Patient-Reported Outcomes
Unlock the true potential of your dental practice by integrating patient-reported outcomes. Discover how these tools provide valuable insights into patient experiences and enhance treatment efficacy and satisfaction.
In a recent editorial published in Evidence-Based Dentistry, Italian dentist and professor Giusy Rita Maria La Rosa, DDS, asserts that patient-reported outcomes (PROs) and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are revolutionizing healthcare by incorporating patients’ perspectives into clinical practice and research. PROs capture patients’ views on their health conditions without clinical interpretation, while PROMs are the instruments used to collect these insights through self-administered questionnaires. In dentistry, La Rosa asserts, PROs are crucial for gaining a comprehensive understanding of patients’ oral health, beyond what clinical measures can provide.
Dental patient-reported outcomes and dental patient-reported outcome measures assess various aspects of oral health, including pain, function, esthetics, and quality of life. These measures are increasingly utilized in clinical trials and practice to supplement objective clinical data, offering a holistic view of treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction. La Rosa believes this approach is particularly important in specialized fields, such as pediatric dentistry, geriatric dentistry, and the treatment of head and neck cancer, where patient experience and quality of life are paramount.
However, the implementation of PROs faces challenges, particularly in determining the minimally clinically important difference (MCID). MCID represents the smallest change in a PRO measure perceived as beneficial by patients and significant enough to influence patient management. Establishing MCID is essential for interpreting the clinical relevance of PROs, ensuring that measured changes are meaningful.
To overcome these challenges, La Rosa suggests that a comprehensive framework for PROs in dentistry is needed. This framework should incorporate typical domains and include MCID to ensure that PROs are both comprehensive and clinically meaningful. Guidelines from the International Society for Quality of Life Research and principles from cancer research can provide valuable references for developing this framework.
La Rosa recommends the integration of PROs into dental research and practice in order to improve patient care, align with the emphasis on patient-centered care, and ensure that patients’ voices are heard and valued in evaluating and enhancing dental treatments. Click here to read the editorial.
