Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS): Efficient, standardized tools to measure self-reported health and quality of life

All nurses are interested in the effects of diseases and treatments on individuals. Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures are used to obtain self-reported information about symptoms, function, perceptions, and experiences. However, there are challenges to their use, including multiple measures of the same concept, widely varying quality, excessive length and complexity, and difficulty comparing findings across studies and conditions. To address these challenges, the National Institutes of Health funded the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS), a web-based repository of valid and reliable PRO measures of health concepts relevant to clinician and researchers. Through the PROMIS Assessment Center, clinicians and researchers can access PRO measures, administer computerized adaptive tests, collect self-report data, and report instant health assessments. The purpose of this article was to summarize the development and validation of the PROMIS measures and to describe its current functionality as it relates to nursing science.