Measuring and Responding to What Matters in Patient Reported Outcomes: The What and the Why

To discuss challenges in Patient Reported Outcome Symptom Screening in routine cancer care and the importance of personalized symptom management and patient involvement in care.

In this paper, the extant literature on routine symptom screening and monitoring in cancer care using Patient-Reported Outcome Measures is examined. This paper expands on ideas from a presentation given at the inaugural meeting of the Global Alliance for Symptom Science in Lausanne Switzerland, 2023. Ongoing challenges in measuring and responding effectively to "what matters" in routine screening to reduce symptom burden and quality of life is discussed.

This paper provides a discussion based on key literature to identify key challenges that must be addressed for symptom screening to reduce symptom burden and improve quality of life and potential solutions as follows: (1) measuring what matters from the perspective of the person, (2) responding effectively to screening data from the lens of person-centered care, (3) measuring meaningful symptom improvement and health outcomes from the perspective of patients, and (4) engaging patients (and families) in self-management as co-contributors of symptom and health outcomes.

Patient reported outcomes can improve personalized symptom care, however a quality response to symptom data is essential.

Nurses have long been identified as the cornerstone to effective symptom management; and they play a vital role in promoting a person-centered approach to PROs data and responding to 'what matters' to the person in the context of their daily life. Upskilling of nurses in self-management health coaching will be critical to building patient capacity as co-contributors to health outcomes.