Which patient-reported outcomes shall we use in hand surgery?

Abstract

Nowadays, the use of patient-reported outcome measures to monitor a treatment effect in daily practice or to quantify study outcomes is indispensable. In hand surgery, there is a wide variety available. This article provides an overview about the most common hand-specific, upper-extremity specific and general quality of life patient-reported outcome measurement instruments with adequate psychometric properties. A checklist and a decision tree are provided for choosing the appropriate instrument when evaluating patients with hand conditions.