A patient-oriented health status measure in outpatient rehabilitation.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of a patient-centered health status measurement tool in multiple outpatient rehabilitation clinics and to characterize health status before and after an outpatient physical therapy intervention as part of that assessment. Six outpatient rehabilitation clinics voluntarily agreed to incorporate a standardized patient-centered health status questionnaire into everyday practice. Patients completed the SF-36 health status questionnaire before initiating treatment and again at discharge. Only nonsurgical patients without comorbidities were enrolled. Voluntary application of the SF-36 on a small scale was achieved over a period of 3-4 mo. All health concepts improved except general health perceptions. The results suggest that (1) a standard patient-oriented health status questionnaire can be incorporated into outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and useful information can be derived regarding outcomes; (2) careful administrative coordination is necessary to optimize follow-up and decrease burden on both patients and clinicians; (3) although improvements in health status were demonstrated, small sample sizes and the lack of control groups prevents conclusions regarding the effectiveness of physical therapy treatment; and (4) the magnitude of effect sizes suggests that controlled studies could be performed by clinicians partnering with researchers to improve outpatient rehabilitation.