Common Themes
Common themes of outcomes research are:
- Safety
- Misuse of medical therapy and oversight in the course of clinical care
- Medical mistakes that place patients at risk for adverse events
- Effectiveness
- The gap between what can be achieved through medical intervention or policy and what is actually accomplished
- Whether policies are adapted by clinicians, the way they are applied, the skill of practitioners, the characteristics of the patients receiving interventions and whether patients are adherent to therapy
- Equity
- Examination of disparity in healthcare delivery that focuses on whether nonclinical factors such as race, gender, and socioeconomic status influence the care of patients
- Efficiency
- With increasing healthcare costs, outcomes research focuses on ways to maximize efficiency, limit healthcare costs, and reduce waste in the healthcare system.
- Timeliness
- Patient access to healthcare: barriers to access, and uninsured patients inability to benefit from healthcare.
- System responsiveness
- Educational efforts amongst the medical community and implementation of healthcare policies that improve patient care.
- Patient-centeredness
- How medical interventions will affect patients, what patients feel and what they can do to effect medical decision making.
- The burden of illness, adverse effects of medications, and complication from procedures that affect the quality and quantity of life.
Read more about this topic: Outcomes Research
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