TY - JOUR T1 - Can the outcome of primary care be measured by a Patient Reported Outcome Measure? JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 647 LP - 648 DO - 10.3399/bjgp14X683017 VL - 64 IS - 629 AU - Mairead Murphy AU - Chris Salisbury AU - Sandra Hollinghurst Y1 - 2014/12/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/64/629/647.abstract N2 - There is increasing interest in using Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) as an indicator of the effectiveness of health care, underpinned by the principle that the patient’s experience of outcome, as opposed to the absence of disease, is a key measure of success. Most PROMs do not measure outcome directly, but collect patient self-reported health status before and after an intervention or episode of care, with the change between the scores providing the outcome.Measuring outcome in the unselected population seen in primary care requires a PROM which is applicable across a range of conditions, that is, generic. There are numerous generic PROMS, of which the most widely used in the UK is the EuroQoL group’s EQ-5D. This measures health status through five tick-box questions on mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, and anxiety/depression. It is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for deriving quality-adjusted life years to assess the cost-effectiveness of interventions1 and is currently used to collect data on the outcomes of hip and knee replacements, and surgery for groin hernia and varicose veins.2 Globally, the most commonly-used generic PROM is the Short Form (36) Health Survey (SF-36). This contains 36 questions on wider aspects of symptoms and function. It is more comprehensive than the EQ-5D and there is evidence to suggest it is more sensitive to change.3In this article we argue that neither generic PROM is sufficient for evaluating episodes of primary care, and that no suitable PROM currently exists. We believe we need a new measure.The provision of primary care is changing, with the introduction of different providers … ER -