Outcomes research

Outcomes research is a broad field of study with a primary focus of assessing the effectiveness of health interventions and services by measuring their impact on health outcomes. Examples in this domain cover healthcare delivery, cost effectiveness, health, disease burden and so on. Patient-centred (sometimes known as patient-focused) outcomes research is an umbrella term used to summarise research into patients’ perspectives on their experiences in healthcare systems. For example, the development and use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) designed to capture the impact of treatment on symptoms and quality of life, or measuring patient preferences to help (re)design hospital services.