Surgeon-Perceived Requirements for a Platform to Integrate Patient-Reported Outcome Measures into Clinical Practice

Background Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are standardized, validated tools that translate subjective patient-reported concerns about their health status into quantitative data. PROMs were initially developed as research instruments; however, they have more recently been recognized as important clinical tools. PROMs have not been widely adopted into surgical practices and this study sought to uncover the system requirements of a platform to integrate PROMs into surgical practice, as perceived by surgeons.

Methods Semi-structured interviews were performed from November 2019 until August of 2020. Interviews continued until thematic saturation was achieved. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Qualitative interview data were thematically analyzed using an inductive approach.

Results Analysis revealed 12 system features desired by surgeons for a platform to integrate PROMs into clinical use. These were further grouped into four unique overarching themes. Surgeons asserted that the platform must (1) be user-friendly, (2) promote information transparency, (3) incorporate validated questionnaires while still allowing for some degree of customizability, and (4) support the collection and display of longitudinal data.

Conclusions Health care systems planning to develop a platform to integrate PROMs into their clinical practices should investigate the feasibility of the system features identified as essential by this study. While surgeons represent an important stakeholder group when designing a new platform for use in surgical practice, it will also be crucial to explore the features desired by patients before designing or adopting a platform for clinical use.