Making a picture worth a thousand numbers: recommendations for graphically displaying patient-reported outcomes data

Abstract

Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) can promote patient-centered care in multiple ways: (1) using an individual patient’s PRO data to inform his/her management, (2) providing PRO results from comparative research studies in patient educational materials/decision aids, and (3) reporting PRO results from comparative research studies in peer-reviewed publications. Patients and clinicians endorse the value of PRO data; however, variations in how PRO measures are scored and scaled, and in how the data are reported, make interpretation challenging and limit their use in clinical practice. We conducted a modified Delphi process to develop stakeholder-engaged, evidence-based recommendations for PRO data display for the three above applications to promote understanding and use.