Clinician Reported Outcomes in a Nutshell: A Short Guide 

Clinician Reported Outcomes

In some of our other articles, we have explored the importance of patient reported outcomes (PROs) and how their digital version is changing the clinical research landscape. In today’s article, we cover another type of clinical outcome assessment, the clinician reported outcome (ClinRO).

In a five-minute read, you will learn what ClinROs are, what their role in clinical research is and, as usual, we present the benefits of implementing the electronic version. Save this article for future reference and share it with someone who might be interested in the subject.

What are Clinician Reported Outcomes?

There are four types of clinical outcomes assessments: patient reported outcomes (PROs), observer reported outcomes (ObsROs), performance outcomes (PerfO) and clinician reported outcomes (ClinRO), which is the one we will be detailing in this article. Each type of clinical outcome assessment measures one aspect of the impact of a treatment on a patient.

ClinROs are made by a clinician or another healthcare practitioner after interacting with a patient. It can be simply the result of symptoms observation or of a more complex interaction in which the patient is asked questions.

Just like the other types of clinical assessment, ClinROs are written reports. They lay out the physician (or other health practitioner) view and observations about the effects of a treatment. In the next section, we will explain the function of ClinRos.

Clinician Reported Outcomes

What is the Role of Clinician Reported Outcomes in Clinical Trials?

Clinician reported outcomes are now a well stablished practice, and there is guidance issued by regulatory bodies on how to incorporate ClinROs into a clinical trial. The main role of this kind of reporting is to generate evidence for regulatory approval and, ultimately, document the effectiveness of a treatment so that it can be offered to patients.

ClinROs are used to measure a patient’s health status and identify endpoints that can illustrate the benefits of a treatment. Just like the other kinds of clinical outcomes assessment, it requires training to be developed and prepared, as its results can be influenced by subjective judgment.

What are eClinROs and How They can Enhance Clinical Trials?

We have mentioned that clinician reported outcomes are, essentially, written reports. Traditionally, these reports were paper based, as they have been in use before technology and digital software was made available to clinicians conducting clinical trials.

This also means that every time a new report was to be written, clinicians and patients had to meet in person at the study center. Nowadays, however, there are ways of capturing data and interacting with patients remotely and electronically, eliminating the need for paper-based reports and also visits to the site.

eClinROs are clinician reported outcomes based on data that is captured using digital software, and often this is done remotely using mobile devices. Some benefits of using eClinROs are:

  • ‍Enhancing the efficiency of clinical trials and even reducing the time necessary to conduct activities. Some tasks can be automated when done digitally, and instructions to patients can be made clearer so no time is wasted with problems in data capture.
  • Reducing the burden both on staff and on patients, as none of them need to travel to collect or share information. This is beneficial not only because it allows clinicians to make better use of their time, but also because it improves the patient’s experience and may reduce dropout rates.
  • It can significantly improve data collection, eliminating the risk of human errors to which manual data entry is subject to. Moreover, most digital tools for eClinROs offer the option of setting reminders and entries deadlines, helping researchers to manage the study’s timelines more efficiently.

Summary

  • There are four types of clinical outcomes assessments: patient reported outcomes (PROs), observer reported outcomes (ObsROs), performance outcomes (PerfO) and clinician reported outcomes (ClinRO)
  • ClinROs can be simply the result of symptoms observation or of a more complex interaction in which the patient is asked questions
  • They lay out the physician (or other health practitioner) view and observations about the effects of a treatment
  • The main role of this kind of reporting is to generate evidence for regulatory approval and, ultimately, document the effectiveness of a treatment so that it can be offered to patients
  • Some benefits of using eClinROs are enhancing the efficiency of clinical trials, reducing the burden both on staff and on patients and improving data collection