HEALTH OUTCOMES RESEARCH: A STRATEGY TO IMPROVE TREATMENT RESULTS

We live in an era where new epidemics and pandemics are emerging along with the pre burden of chronic diseases where hospital admissions are increasing day by day. This has been a challenge to Healthcare organisations and professionals as there has been great pressure on them to provide high-quality care while limiting the cost. Here is where the importance of health outcomes research is understood as it provides a valuable resource to help physicians make better treatment choices which are beneficial and in favour of the patients.

Some of the most effective examples of health outcomes research consider patient-centred outcomes including patient's preferences, lifestyle etc. This also gives a chance for the patients and their caregivers to communicate and state their choices and make informed Healthcare decisions.

The scope of health outcomes research is to be understood and studied very well as when the researchers identify how to implement Health Outcomes Research studies and produce data, the findings could be used in a variety of situations. The biggest role of health outcomes research is in helping physicians to select the most effective treatment options for an individual according to their needs. This, in turn, leads to patient compliance and a safe mode of treatment regimen where the patient's needs are also taken into consideration. But this could only be effective when physicians know and understand how to apply the data on patients. This method comes under another field of research called "implementation science". For example, while clinical trials measure the effectiveness of various clinical approaches, most of the physicians often don't consider various other factors like age, dietary habits etc of an individual which if given a closer look could help alter their treatment approach in a better way.

Looking forward, we expect physicians and other medical professionals to recognize patients as individuals to create a more personalised treatment approach that will likely achieve better results.

Miss Minnu Ann Mohan, III Pharm.D