I’ve written about this before, but several recent events have brought the subject back to the fore: what exactly constitutes an “outcome” in primary care medicine?
Surgery has outcomes. Patient undergoes procedure; complications may ensue; convalescence proceeds; wound heals; life goes on.
Obstetrics has outcomes: conception, pregnancy, labor, delivery. Complicated or not; healthy baby, or sometimes tragically not. Six weeks later, patient is discharged from care.
Outcomes refer to events. Microbes invade; infection ensues; treatment is provided; patient recovers. Bones break and heal. Screaming metal collides, rending flesh; medics, helicopters, trauma codes, intensive care; those are events that yield meaningfully measurable outcomes.
Longitudinal care — ongoing care throughout the patient’s life — always has the same ultimate outcome: death.
Musings of a Dinosaur 
[…] to people which is no one’s fault. Tumors metastasize; organs fail; people even die. (Actually, all of them will eventually.) Where does accountability come into […]
By: When are doctors truly accountable to their patients? | DIRECT primary CARE JOURNAL on May 28, 2014
at 3:57 pm
[…] to people which is no one’s fault. Tumors metastasize; organs fail; people even die. (Actually, all of them will eventually.) Where does accountability come into […]
By: When are doctors truly accountable to their patients? « Concierge Medicine Today on June 8, 2014
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