Implementation of a standardised outcome measures dataset at St John of God Healthcare Rehabilitation Services
Sangeeta Rathi1,2, Karen Sheehan1, Angel Ching1, Rachel Resuggan11St John of God Healthcare, 2University of Notre Dame
Abstract
Background: There has been increasing recognition that for true patient-centred, quality healthcare to be delivered, knowing patient function and quality of life outcomes is pivotal. Routinely using outcome measures empowers patients to actively participate in their health care, enables health professionals to monitor the patient symptoms more effectively and understand patients’ needs. The main aim of this project was to create and implement a standardised outcome measures data set for all rehabilitation hospitals across St John of God Healthcare.
Methods: Condition- specific clinical outcome measures (COMs) and patient reported outcome measures (PROMs) were identified by a group of subject matter experts for orthopaedic, neurological, cardiothoracic and general reconditioning rehabilitation programs offered at our hospitals. All COMs and PROMs were implemented in both inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation services across seven rehabilitation hospitals. All outcome measures were collected on standardised paper forms at the start and end of patients’ rehabilitation programs.
Results: A standard set of data was collected on 2700 patients across seven sites over 12 months. More in-depth analysis on 700 patients from a single site showed improvement on all outcomes related to impairment, participation and quality of life from the time of admission to discharge.
Conclusion: This standardised outcome measure dataset can now be used to evaluate the effectiveness of our rehabilitation programs, future quality improvement activities and benchmark our performance nationally. Most importantly, measuring the effectiveness of interventions in everyday routine clinical practice will foster a culture of applying clinical reasoning and evidence based practice within our hospitals.
Biography
Sangeeta Rathi is currently working as Group Allied Health and Rehabilitation Research Lead at St John of God Healthcare. She is also an adjunct senior Research Fellow at the University of Notre Dame. Prior to this role, she was working clinically as a physiotherapist for nearly 15 years. Sangeeta completed her PhD from La Trobe University in 2018. She is passionate about building research capacity and promoting a culture of evidence based practice and research translation in allied health workforce, specifically in a private healthcare sector.