Misbah Ghous  ( 1Riphah College of Rehabilitation & Sciences, Riphah International University )
Maria Kanwal  ( Student, Rawalpindi Medical College, Rawalpindi )

Madam, knowing is better than wondering. Ironic truth but despite of best available facilities, prognosis of diseases and disabilities is disappointing. Consequentially where does the problem lie? One of the major issues is the lack of the use of outcome measures by health providers. The use of outcome measures in our daily practice can improve the health of an individual remarkably and this will be comforting not for the patients but for the doctors too. The outcome measures tell us about the status of health of individuals before the beginning of treatment during and after the termination of rehabilitation, so we can amend the remedy, if not working. Things will be a lot more different if this practice comes into play, and rehabilitation field will be a lot better than we see it today. For us physiotherapists to \\\'know\\\' and demonstrate the effectiveness of our care for our patients, we should be making use of standardized outcome measures. But are physiotherapists using outcome measures in routine practice? Research suggests we are, but sadly, not frequently enough. Internationally in 2016, it was notified that the use of standardized outcome measures should be a priority issue for the physical therapy profession, in accordance with the Standard 6 of the European Core Standards of Physiotherapy Practice (ER- WCPT, 2008), a standardized outcome measure should be used to evaluate the change in the patient\\\'s problem.¹ Therefore evidenced based physical therapy demands implementation of standardized outcome measures as the key component.² It was observed that use of standardized outcome measures in clinical practice even in Europe, Australia and other developed countries is scarce.³ Outcome measures provide underlying information concerning deficits recorded in a patient. So it is necessary that all practicing clinicians should be aware of, the feasibility, reliability, validity and diagnostic accuracy of outcome measures. Use of both objective as well as subjective outcome measures allows physical therapist in tracking of progress and the comparison of effectiveness and costs across interventions. Use of both objective as well as subjective outcome measures allows therapist in tracking of progress and the comparison of effectiveness and costs across interventions, and patient characteristics.⁴ Physical therapy is an emerging and growing profession in Pakistan. Therefore, it has become necessary to integrate standardized outcome measures (OMs) into clinical practice and boost evidence-based practice. There is very little evidence in literature about the use of outcome measures and evidence based practice in Pakistan. There can be many reasons like, lack of familiarity with, lack of training in, lack of training with, lack of access to measures, lack of a support system in terms of technology and qualified staff, limited number of therapists in hospitals with overloaded patients.⁵ Another worthy factor is, many physical therapists avoid using assessment tools while evaluation because of scarce time.   Now the trend is changing, evolutionary evidence based physical Therapy and standardized measures are being in practiced in Pakistan. A number of tertiary care hospitals and reputed institutions have introduced research based practice as an essential part of rehabilitation. Finally using outcome measures with confidence and knowledge in clinical practice could further lead to sharing knowledge beyond the total score on a clinical scale. So the need is to spread the awareness of beneficence of the use of standardized outcome measures in daily practice in the field of rehabilitation which not only favour\\\'s patient\\\'s prognosis but itself is an appraisal assessment tool.

References

1.  Verheyden G, Meyer S. \\\'To Measure is to Know\\\'. Advancing the Use of Outcome Measures in the Physiotherapy Profession. Physiother Res Int. 2016;
21:1-3.
2.  Käll I, Larsson ME, Bernhardsson S. Use of outcome measures improved after a tailored implementation in primary care physiotherapy: a prospective, controlled study. J Eval Clin Pract. 2016; 22:668-76.
3.  Jette DU, Halbert J, Iverson C, Miceli E, Shah P. Use of standardized outcome measures in physical therapist practice: perceptions and applications. Phys Therapy. 2016; 89:125-35.
4.  Potter K, Fulk GD, Salem Y, Sullivan J. Outcome measures in neurological physical therapy practice: part I. Making sound decisions. J Neurol Phys Therapy. 2011; 35:57-64.
5.  Rathore FA, New PW, Iftikhar A. A report on disability and rehabilitation medicine in Pakistan: past, present, and future directions. Arch Phys Med Rehab. 2011; 92:161-6.