Evaluating health and health related quality of life

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are validated questionnaires that measure health-related quality of life (HRQoL), functioning, wellbeing, and symptoms from the patients’ perspective. Originally, PROMs have been used in clinical trials and research, to measure the effect of treatment on outcomes relevant to the patient. Nowadays, PROMs are more and more applied in daily clinical practice, to better incorporate health-related quality of live in the clinical course of cancer patients. PROMs are currently implemented at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. By this, we can evaluate the health and HRQoL of patients in our hospital, but also the effect of healthcare on their health. Furthermore, we use PROMs data to predict which patients will need supportive care, so that healthcare trajectories can be personalized towards the needs of these patients.