The effect of multiple recruitment contacts on response rates and patterns of missing data in a survey of bladder cancer survivors 6 months after cystectomy

A Review of PROM Implementation in Surgical Practice

“…For example, in 1 study patients conveyed that reporting of PROMs was useful and said they would recommend it to other patients; 24 patients from a second study stated that PROMs validated their self-assessment of recovery. 35 identified survey fatigue, 27 lack of interest in completing PROMs, and unclear purpose for PROMs. 38 Staff reported similar barriers to use including time burden and insufficient information regarding the utility of PROMs to clinical care.…”

“…Two studies reported that more nonrespondents were of non-White race, 26, 27 1 study reported that nonresponse was due to lack of internet access, 37 and 2 studies found that relatively younger age was associated with nonresponse (<70 vs !70; 52 years vs. 62 years). 27,34 Severity of disease was reported to influence response in 2 studies, but with opposite findings: in 1 study, responders were more likely to have undergone surgery and less likely to be undergoing only palliative oncologic treatment 25 ; in another study, higher disease stage was associated with higher odds of response than lower disease stage. 28 Six studies reported on facilitators of use and 11 studies reported barriers to implementation (Supplemental Table 3, http://links.lww.com/SLA/ D235…”

“…Half of the studies occurred in the United States, and the majority were conducted within academic surgical departments. Fifteen studies were conducted in specific subspecialties: two in gynecology, 23,24 1 in thoracic surgery, 25 2 in urology, 26,27 1 in otolaryngology, 28 6 in orthopedic surgery, [29][30][31][32][33][34] 2 in breast cancer 35,36 ; 1 in gastrointestinal cancer 37 ; and 1 study included any qualifying National Surgical Quality Improvement Program procedure 38 (Supplemental Table 2, http://links.lww.com/SLA/D234). Respondent age was reported as a mean or median in twelve studies, with all except Howard et al falling in a range of 50-70 years.…”

“…Fewer than half (7/16) of studies provided either a statistical analysis or narrative discussion of nonrespondents (Supplemental Table 2, http://links.lww.com/SLA/D234). Two studies reported that more nonrespondents were of non-White race, 26,27 1 study reported that nonresponse was due to lack of internet access, 37 and 2 studies found that relatively younger age was associated with nonresponse (<70 vs ≥70; 52 years vs. 62 years) 27,34 . Severity of disease was reported to influence response in 2 studies, but with opposite findings: in 1 study, responders were more likely to have undergone surgery and less likely to be undergoing only palliative oncologic treatment 25 ; in another study, higher disease stage was associated with higher odds of response than lower disease stage 28 .…”

“…Reports of routine PROM implementation are limited and inconsistent across surgical specialties. 12 Among the studies we identified, authors considered response rates ranging from 20%-70% as evidence of success, 27,38 and fewer than half of studies offered any discussion about nonrespondents. The absence of a structured definition of minimum collection goals and a known denominator or descriptive analysis of respondents vs nonrespondents hampers a clinician or researcher's ability to interpret PROM results in aggregate.…”