A typical outcome measure in healthcare is when the patient experiences some form of recovery, improvement, or stabilization of their condition. There are different kinds of outcome measures; we will discuss them and explain what each means.
Outcome Measures: Functional status or quality of life (QOL)
This type of healthcare outcome measure assesses how healthy a person is and how well they can function daily. The measures for this include the extent to which a person’s symptoms cause problems, such as pain intensity, and how it impairs an individual’s ability to do normal activities around the house, like doing household chores. It also considers whether there has been any kind of change in any mental functions such as memory, mood, and thought processes.
An assessment of this kind is done by a physical therapist, psychologist, or any other relevant professional in the field to determine what kind of progress a patient has made based on these factors.
Outcome Measures: Survival
This type of outcome measure in healthcare indicates whether someone has survived a particular medical condition, such as cancer. We do not mean to say that there is no longer a problem with the disease but only if they have lived through it and when exactly from diagnosis it occurred.
The results for this are usually determined upon examining patients who underwent surgery for their conditions and comparing them to people with similar conditions who did not go through with the surgery. So, for example, we can examine how many people underwent surgery and opted not to have it at all and see which group had a better survival rate.
Outcome Measures: Symptom Control
These kinds of outcome measures usually consist of examination and comparison of the extent to which existing treatments or drugs can relieve symptoms like pain or nausea and if their condition has improved as a result. The results for this indicate whether using a particular treatment method is beneficial for patients with similar diseases.
Healthcare outcome measures are used to determine the extent of improvement or recovery patients with similar diseases have experienced when using different kinds of treatment. The results indicate the effectiveness of certain treatment methods and their implications for improving health conditions for people with similar medical conditions. AZZLY has detailed information about outcome measures that you can obtain by contacting them
