Assessment of PRO in general medical practices

As part of the government’s objective of strengthening a coherent health care system, the Ministry of Health has launched a project with the aim of facilitating the use of patient reported outcomes (PRO) in general medical practices.

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PROJECT PERIOD

Start: 2016
End: February 2019

A web-based system (“WebPatient”) is used as a substitute for paper forms for requisition and management of PRO.

AIM

The goal of using PRO in general practice is, among other things, to ensure active patient involvement, streamline the current paper-based processes, increase the treatment quality and ensure a digital boost of the patient- and citizen-oriented service. The purpose of the evaluation of this project is to collect experiences with the system among general practitioners, other clinical staff and patients. The data collection thus includes interviews with selected general medical practices in all regions of Denmark and nationwide questionnaire surveys among patients and staff.

RESULTS

Overall, the project has shown positive results seen from the perspective of the users. The vast majority are satisfied with the system and will recommend it to others. It is perceived as easy to use and users are convinced that most people will quickly be able to use it. The system is reliable and only a few users have experienced technical problems.

The majority of general practitioners and other clinical staff estimate that their tasks in relation to PRO have generally become easier, and that they overall save time when using the system. In addition, only a minority indicate that they have been given new tasks in relation to PRO after it is handled electronically with the system. This suggests that the system supports the workflow with PRO in general medical practices, however only one-third of general practitioners use more PRO forms after it has become electronic.

More than half of general practitioners and other clinical staff estimate that the data quality is improved with the system, and the majority of other clinical staff also find that the risk of adverse events is reduced.

The majority of patients feel that the system improves the collaboration with their general practitioner and approximately half of the patients feel more involved in their treatment after the introduction of the electronic PRO system.