Routine health outcomes measurement

rdf:langString Routine health outcomes measurement

rdf:langString Routine health outcomes measurement is the process of examining whether or not interventions are associated with change (for better or worse) in the patient's health status. This change can be directly measured (e.g. by rating scales used by the clinician or patient) or assumed by the use of proxy measurement (e.g. a blood test result). Interventions can be direct (e.g. medication) or indirect (e.g. change in the process of health care like integration care by different specialists).Some definitions of health outcomes measurement stipulate that the population or group has to be defined (different outcomes are expected for different people & conditions). A strong example is that of Australia’s New South Wales Health Department: health outcome is "change in the health of an individual, group of people or population which is attributable to an intervention or series of interventions" In its purest form, measurement of health outcomes implies identifying the context (diagnosis, demographics etc.), measuring health status before an intervention is carried out, measuring the intervention, measuring health status again and then plausibly relating the change to the intervention.