Patient-reported outcomes for ambulatory surgery

To discuss the importance of validated tools that measure patient-reported outcomes and their use in ambulatory surgery.

Sustained increases in ambulatory surgical care reflect advances in surgical techniques and perioperative anaesthetic care. Use of patient-reported outcomes allows identification of minor adverse events that are more common in this population compared with traditional endpoints such as mortality. Variability in reported outcomes restricts research potential and limits the ability to benchmark providers. The standardized endpoints in perioperative medicine initiative's recommendations on patient-reported outcomes and patient comfort measures are relevant to evaluating ambulatory care. Combining validated generic and disease-specific patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) examines the widest spectrum of outcomes. Technological advances can be used to facilitate outcome measurement in ambulatory surgery with digital integration optimizing accurate real-time data collection. Telephone or web-based applications for reviewing ambulatory patients were found to be acceptable in multiple international settings and should be harnessed to allow remote follow-up.

Use of validated tools to measure patient-reported outcomes allows internal and external quality comparison. Tools can be combined to measure objective outcomes and patient satisfaction. These are both key factors in driving forward improvements in perioperative ambulatory surgical care.