Should we use clinical outcome measures on a routine basis? Dr Katherine C. Nordal, Executive Director of American Psychological Association’s Practice Directorate, says…
“Measuring clinical outcomes offers significant benefits to psychologists and patients. Use of outcomes measures can guide treatment decisions, pinpoint the need for additional professional education and training, and help patients recognize their own improvement. Research supports routine use of outcomes assessment as a way to guide and improve care. Of course, measures are particularly meaningful to practice when the results provide direction for further provision of care and the psychologist shares the feedback with his or her patients.
Our hope is that psychologists in practice will continue to increase their use of outcomes measures. While psychologists [and mental health clinicians] are well aware of the benefits of quality psychotherapy, it can often be difficult to demonstrate those benefits to others in health care. Routine use of outcome measures is one strategy to capture data regarding psychology’s positive clinical outcomes.” By Katherine C. Nordal PhD from http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/01/perspectives.aspx
At NovoPsych we make the recommended routine use of clinical outcome measures simple and effective. For details about how you can integrate NovoPsych into your existing practice, visit http://www.novopsych.com/app/