What are PROMs?

PROMs are standardised questionnaires that capture patients’ perspectives on their health and recovery, measuring what truly matters to them — including symptom relief, physical function, and quality of life.

PROMs complement clinical data to provide a more complete picture of healthcare outcomes and support more patient-centred, value-based care.

There are two main types of PROMs:

Disease-specific: Focus on symptoms, functions, and impacts relevant to a particular condition (e.g. heart failure or knee osteoarthritis).
Generic: Measure overall health, wellbeing, and quality of life, allowing comparisons across different diseases and populations (e.g. EuroQol 5-Dimension questionnaire – EQ5D).

How is NUH using PROMs data?

At NUH, Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are being progressively implemented across our clinical areas including orthopaedics, cardiology, and neurology. Patients complete these questionnaires digitally at different stages of their care journey, enabling clinicians to track progress and discuss results directly with them.

PROMs data is used to:

Enhance clinical programmes — for example, the Orthopaedics Total Knee Replacement (TKR) pathway, where PROMs are collected before and after surgery to assess pain relief, joint function, and quality of life.
Contribute to value-based outcomes by ensuring patients receive the most appropriate care when they need it.
Guide care optimisation and shared decision-making — helping teams refine care processes and tailor treatment discussions to individual patient goals.
Benchmark clinical performance — within departments, across NUHS hospitals, and eventually at national, regional, and international levels.

This shared understanding helps clinicians and patients choose treatments that best align with individual needs and goals, while driving continuous improvement in the way we deliver care.

Case Examples of PROMs in NUH

Department of Orthopaedic Surgery

Department of Paediatrics (NUWoC)

Management of Infant and Childhood Sleep

List of PROMs Initiatives in NUH

NUH has implemented PROMs in a number of clinical areas and specialties:

Department of Medicine - Division of Dermatology	EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level (EQ-5D-5L) Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) Skindex Mini (Skindex-Mini) Skindex-16 (Skindex-16)
Department of Medicine – Division of Endocrinology	Diabetes Distress Scale (DDS) Patient Activation Measure (PAM) Problem Areas in Diabetes Scale (PAID)
Department of Medicine – Division of Geriatric Medicine	FRAIL Scale (FRAIL) SARC-F Questionnaire (SARC-F) Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire (SNAQ) Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
Department of Medicine – Division of Infectious Diseases	Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) Positive-Quality of Life Scale (POZ-QoL)
Department of Medicine – Division of Nephrology	Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale - Renal (IPOS-Renal) Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI - caregiver reported)
Department of Medicine – Division of Neurology	Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) Patient Reported Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)
Department of Medicine – Division of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine	EuroQol 5-Dimension, 5-level (EQ5D-5L)
Department of Medicine – Division of Rheumatology & Allergy	Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score (ASDAS) Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI) Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28) Modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) Patient Global Assessment (PGA - via Visual Analogue Scale) Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index with Physician Global Assessment (SLEDAI with PGA) Urticaria Activity Score over 7 days (UAS-7)
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery	EuroQol 5-Dimension, 5-level (EQ5D-5L) Knee Society Score (KSS) Neck Disability Index (NDI) Oswetry Low Back Pain & Disability Index Oxford Hip Score (OHS) Oxford Knee Score (OKS) Scoliosis Research Soceity-22r (SRS-22r) Short Form (36) Health Survey, Version 2 (SF36v2)
Department of Psychological Medicine	Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) Dialectical Behavior Therapy – Ways of Coping Checklist (DBT-WCCL) Distress Thermometer (DT) Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) EuroQol-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents (PHQ-A) Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q) State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) Zarit Caregiver Burden Interview (ZBI - caregiver reported)
Department of Neonatology (NUWoC)	Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) World Health Organization Quality of Life – BREF (WHOQOL-BREF)
Department of Paediatrics (NUWoC)	Management of Infant and Childhood Sleep (SLeEP) Questionnaire Numeric Rating Scale (Paediatric Oncology - Pain) Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM)
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (NUWoC)	EuroQol-5 Dimension, 5-Level (EQ5D-5L)
Department of Cardiology (NUHCS)	EuroQol-5 Dimension, 5-level (EQ5D-5L) Patient Activation Measure-13 (PAM-13) Rose Angina Questionnaire (Rose) Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ)
Department of Endodontics (NUCOHS)	Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP)

PROMs implementation at NUH will be progressively expanded to other disciplines to enable more holistic outcomes tracking across complex care pathways.