Clinical research using patient-reported outcome measures has been critical within the field of shoulder, elbow, and sports medicine in helping clinicians deliver evidence-based and value-based medicine. Recently, however, clinicians have advocated for improving the process of obtaining clinically meaningful information from patients while decreasing survey fatigue and increasing compliance. To that end, the National Institutes of Health created the Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Information System (PROMIS) in which a number of institutions and research investigations have adopted for reporting outcomes. A special focus has also been placed on PROMIS Computer Adaptive Testing forms, which tailor questioning through item response theory. The purpose of this study was to provide insight into the utilization, advantages, and disadvantages of PROMIS within the field of shoulder, elbow, and sports medicine and provide a comparison with legacy patient-reported outcome measure measurements.
Clinical research based on patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has allowed practitioners to critically assess treatment efficacies regarding patients' symptoms, function, and quality of life. Evaluating and understanding patient-reported outcomes (PROs) is increasingly important given today's ever-increasing focus on delivery of evidencebased medicine. In particular, these outcome measurements have been critical within the field of shoulder, elbow, and sports medicine (SESM) in the development and advancement of the treatment algorithms currently used within the field. Furthermore, PROs are critical for measuring the improvement of patient's health, which is an essential component for value-based care.Currently, there are dozens of instruments used to assess PROs in the field of SESM. Regarding the upper extremity, the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) scores and Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) are commonly used. Regarding the lower extremity, the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcomes Score (KOOS), International Knee Documentation Committee (IKDC) scores, and Hip Outcome Score (HOS) are commonly used. Short Form-36 (SF-36) and EuroQol 5-dimensions (EQ-5D