What is an outcomes informed clinician?

The key concepts and body of supporting research underlying outcomes informed care and and the importance of practice based evidence are still unfamiliar to many clinicians. This is understandable because the bulk of research has been published in the past 5 years. With this in mind, we invite any interested clinicians to freely add to, edit, or other wise comment on the following attempt to define what is meant by an outcomes informed clinician.

An outcomes informed clinician...

utilizes patient self report questionnaires to measure treatment outcomes for as many patients as possible.

• The outcomes informed clinician has reviewed the research on the use of outcome questionnaires and believes that that patient feedback via the questionnaires, when combined with clinical information obtained through clinical interviews and therapy sessions, enables the skilled clinician to tailor treatment to the needs of the individual clients in ways that result in better overall treatment outcomes. Many outcomes informed clinician also utilize alliance measures as an additional source of feedback.

is aware that the individual clinician is often the most important "active ingredient" in the treatment and that the effectiveness of all treatments are enhanced when delivered by skilled clinicians.

• In order to become expert in a field that requires such a high degree of skill, it is necessary to have performance feedback. The outcomes informed clinician accepts the professional responsibility to evaluate the effectiveness of services and embraces the routine use of outcomes questionnaires as a means of obtaining performance feedback to enhance his or her skill as a clinician.

does not claim to be more effective than clinicians who do not measure treatment outcomes.

• The outcomes informed clinician realizes he or she has no basis to make that judgment in the absence of any outcome data. The outcomes informed clinician is willing to provide evidence as to his or own effectiveness as a clinician, and believes that patients are best served if they have access to information about which practitioners in their community routinely measure outcomes.

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Frequently asked questions

• What is outcomes informed care?
• What is an outcomes informed clinician?
• Which questionnaires should I use?
• How do I administer the questionnaires?
• How often do I administer the questionnaires?
• Which clients should I use the questionnaires with?
• How do I know the Client ID number?
• How do I submit the completed forms?
• How can I view my outcome data?
• Do I need to use a specific informed consent form?
• How do I benchmark my own outcomes?