Introduction: The assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) in spine care provides useful information for quality improvement, effectiveness, and comparative effectiveness. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perceptions about PROs among Latin America (LA) spine surgeons and to evaluate the barriers to implement its routine.
Methods: Internet-based survey to evaluate knowledge and perceptions on the use of PROs among members of AOSLA. The results of this survey supported the development of AOSLA Quality Assessment Registry.
Results: A total of 731 participants from 22 countries answered the electronic questionnaire, a response rate of 52.02%. In general, more than 70% of participants agree that: PROs are useful to evaluate treatment outcomes, they help to monitor outcomes and burden of disease, they can benefit the patients, they facilitate physician-patient communication, and they are useful to compare the results of different centers. However, 36.8% of participants reported not using any PROs in their current activities. The main barriers to implementing PROs collection in routine practice were reported to be lack of time and structure (electronic database, assistants, etc) to perform this activity. However, when asked if they would use an electronic database to store and manage patient data, 87% of participants answered that they would use it routinely to monitor clinical outcomes of patients. Differences among countries were identified. The rationale of AOSLA Quality Assessment Registry is described in detail.
Conclusions: This survey identified the barriers to the use of PROs and clinical registries in spine care in LA. Strategies for overcoming these barriers should be addressed in order to fully implement a large clinical registry of spine care in LA.
Patient Care: To better understand the factors related with the patient's outcome.
Learning Objectives: To understand the barriers of implementing registry in Latin America and the strategies to overcome them.