Disconnected: Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome Measure Collection in Orthopaedic Patients is Less Successful Than...

Area of Science:

• Orthopaedic Trauma Surgery
• Health Informatics
• Patient-Reported Outcome Measures

Background:

• Electronic patient-reported outcome measures (E-PROMs) offer potential for streamlined data collection in orthopaedics.
• Comparing E-PROM with traditional in-person methods is crucial for optimizing data capture in trauma care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness of electronic versus in-person collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in orthopaedic trauma patients.
• To evaluate completion rates and identify factors influencing data collection success.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective comparative study at an urban Level I trauma center.
• 150 consecutive operative orthopaedic trauma patients were included.
• PROMs (Percent of Normal, PROMIS Physical Function) were collected electronically and in-person at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months postoperatively.

Main Results:

• In-person PROM collection demonstrated significantly higher success rates across all time points compared to E-PROM (e.g., 51.3% vs. 20.7% at 2 weeks).
• Loss to follow-up was associated with area deprivation index and lack of insurance.
• Patients completing 3-month E-PROMs had longer clinical follow-up and a trend towards reduced loss to follow-up.

Conclusions:

• E-PROM collection was less successful than in-person methods for orthopaedic trauma patients in this urban safety net setting.
• Further research may be needed to improve E-PROM adoption and effectiveness in diverse trauma populations.