Health related quality of life assessment in the routine clinical practice of a dermatology unit

A descriptive study in a Dermatological Research Institution in Rome, Italy, was conducted to test the feasibility and acceptability of health related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment in the daily routine. Quality of life, and psychosocial distress evaluations were obtained for each patient. Patients were invited to complete the Skindex-29, GHQ-12, and SF-36. Results were returned to the clinical staff using standardised feed-back forms with: a) "categories" of QoL scores to help interpreting Skindex-29 scores; b) "warnings" pointing out problems that patients experienced "all the time"; c) categories of GHQ-12 scores for minor psychiatric problems; d) the classical SF-36 graph depicting the patient's "QoL profile" with normative references. The clinical staff were trained, and then their attitudes and behaviours were surveyed using a standardised questionnaire. For all 170 participants enrolled (63% males, 35% age > 64 years), feed-back forms were provided within three hours from data collection. For patients with repeated hospitalisations time-trends in HRQoL measurements were also provided. The acceptability, both for patients and the clinical staff, was high but the actual impact on clinical activities was limited. The routine assessment of HRQoL in dermatology is feasible and well accepted both by patients and by the clinical staff. The application of these widely used questionnaires should be implemented in a larger scale and evaluated in different settings.