Assessing QOL is crucial to enhancing care
CFN Investigator Rick Sawatzky’s latest research funded by CFN was recently featured on UBC’s CHÉOS website (Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences): Closing the knowledge gap in the use of quality of life assessment tools.
Working with colleague Kara Schick-Makaroff, Dr. Sawatzky’s project aims to develop and implement KT tools for the use of QOL (quality of life) assessment in older adults living with frailty. Older adults living with frailty and their family/friend caregivers often deal with conditions that affect their QOL — both health issues and social issues.
There are a number of standardized and validated tools for assessing QOL, including patient-reported outcomes measures (PROMs) and patient-reported experience measures (PREMs), an area of expertise for Dr. Sawartzky.
There is potential for these instruments to be used to enhance person-centred care at all levels of health care delivery. Despite the known benefits of QOL assessments, there is a lack of resources on how to use this information at the decision-making level.
You can read more about Dr. Sawatzky’s CFN-funded research here.