A Hospital Wide Outcome Evaluation

• Topics in Outcome Assessment by Ellen A. Dornelas, Ph.D., 9/24/96
  
  

Some people have suggested that it would be useful to talk about clinical outcome evaluations that are being conducted. Hopefully others can continue to share descriptions of the outcome studies that they are involved in (I found Elaine's earlier posting quite interesting), as well as brainstorm about planning for new studies using this forum. Meanwhile, I thought I would describe the Institute of Living's Outcome Assessment Program. While the hospital had conducted numerous outcome studies over time, in 1993 a large scale hospital wide outcome study was implemented. Currently all inpatients partial hospitalization patients and outpatients are included in this system wide outcome assessment program called the OAP. We assess upon admission and discharge to the individual unit or program. In longer term programs (outpatient therapy) we also assess at interim points between admission and discharge. Upon discharge (from the hospital), we follow-up on all patients at 1, 6, 12 months and annually thereafter. This creates a longitudinal tracking system for each individual patient which follows him/her throughout the hospital system and after s/he leaves the system. Because it is a heterogeneous populuation very young children to geriatrics, very low to high functioning individuals etc. the outcome evaluation is necessarily complex. At this point we have three years worth of longitudinal data which has been used for a variety of purposes. The OAP itself is continuously changing and hopefully being improved as we go. The resulting data can't answer all the questions we would want, but it represents a vast improvement over no data at all on patient outcomes.

The OAP was the brainchild of the head of our department of clinical research but developing such a system required collaboration between nurses, staff therapists, information services specialists, researchers, administrators and on and on...I'm happy to share more about the OAP if it is helpful to others. There are a multitude of issues that we have had to deal with (i.e. how to develop a loop for feedback, how to make our measures relatively standard across patient groups yet flexible to meet the various needs of each program).

• Re: Hospital Outcomes Evaluation by Elaine Kersten, Ed.D., 2/6/97
  • Assessing Aftercare by Ellen Dornelas, 2/6/97
• Outcome Measures/QI - Call for Papers by David Colton, Ph.D., 3/10/98