A variety of validated surveys exist for healthcare providers to use for measuring a patient’s Health Related Quality of Life. The results are then used to help determine treatment options for the patient based on past results from other patients.
When it is used as a longitudinal study device that surveys patients before, during, and after treatment, it can help health care providers determine which treatment plan is the best option, thereby improving healthcare through an evolutionary process.
Why is it important?
There is a growing field of research concerned with developing, evaluating, and applying quality of life measures within health related research (e.g. within randomized controlled studies, especially in relation to Health Services Research. Well-executed HRQoL research informs those tasked with health rationing or anyone involved in the decision-making process of agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Additionally, HRQoL research may be used as the final step in clinical trials of experimental therapies.
The understanding of Quality of Life is recognized as an increasingly important healthcare topic because the relationship between cost and value raises complex problems, often with high emotional attachment because of the potential impact on human life. For instance, healthcare providers must refer to cost-benefit analysis to make economic decisions about access to expensive drugs that may prolong life by short amount of time and/or provide a minimal increase to quality of life. Additionally, these treatment drugs must be weighed against the cost of alternative treatments or preventative medicine. In the case of chronic and/or terminal illness where no effective cure is available, an emphasis is placed on improving HRQoL through interventions such as symptom management, adaptive technology, and palliative care.
Future Implications of HRQoL
Example of a building on Second Life where avatars can interact in a virtual reality.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is using their HRQoL survey, Healthy Day Measures, as part of research to identify health disparities, track population trends, and build broad coalitions around a measure of population health. This information can then be used by multiple levels of government or other officials to "increase quality and years of life" and to "eliminate health disparaties" for equal opportunity.
When it is used as a longitudinal study device that surveys patients before, during, and after treatment, it can help health care providers determine which treatment plan is the best option, thereby improving healthcare through an evolutionary process.
Why is it important?
There is a growing field of research concerned with developing, evaluating, and applying quality of life measures within health related research (e.g. within randomized controlled studies, especially in relation to Health Services Research. Well-executed HRQoL research informs those tasked with health rationing or anyone involved in the decision-making process of agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration or National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Additionally, HRQoL research may be used as the final step in clinical trials of experimental therapies.
The understanding of Quality of Life is recognized as an increasingly important healthcare topic because the relationship between cost and value raises complex problems, often with high emotional attachment because of the potential impact on human life. For instance, healthcare providers must refer to cost-benefit analysis to make economic decisions about access to expensive drugs that may prolong life by short amount of time and/or provide a minimal increase to quality of life. Additionally, these treatment drugs must be weighed against the cost of alternative treatments or preventative medicine. In the case of chronic and/or terminal illness where no effective cure is available, an emphasis is placed on improving HRQoL through interventions such as symptom management, adaptive technology, and palliative care.
Future Implications of HRQoL
Example of a building on Second Life where avatars can interact in a virtual reality.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is using their HRQoL survey, Healthy Day Measures, as part of research to identify health disparities, track population trends, and build broad coalitions around a measure of population health. This information can then be used by multiple levels of government or other officials to "increase quality and years of life" and to "eliminate health disparaties" for equal opportunity.