Measurement of patient outcomes traditionally has focused on important clinical indicators of morbidity or health. In anesthesia and perioperative care, we relate high quality of care to low incidence of adverse events, or to effective prevention or control of pain or nausea. Quality in perioperative care may also be linked to the success or clinical outcome of the procedure itself. Aspects of medical care that patients consider important, such as the comfort of the environment and convenience of access to care, may be disregarded in studies of traditional perioperative outcomes.Return to normal function is often an identified goal of perioperative care but can be difficult to measure. As we better integrate the patient’s perspective into our quality assessment framework, measurements of patient experience and health-related quality of life (HRQL) are becoming better recognized as important outcomes.1
Functional health status may be assessed using validated instruments that incorporate physical, mental...
