When the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic first began, there was a great deal of confusion among health care professionals, government officials, and those simply going about their daily routines (1). Indeed, physicians were unaware initially of the severity of the novel constellation of systemic and respiratory symptoms being appreciated in numerous patients. Similarly, patients were unsure of how concerned to be about a reported new virus spreading rapidly across the globe. However, it quickly became evident that this was a concerning situation that would not be alleviated in the short term.
The initial days, weeks, and months of the COVID-19 global pandemic saw an exponential growth of cases and a high death rates for those infected (2). In response, recommendations on when to seek care shifted as the health system became overwhelmed, with many suggesting avoiding the emergency room or doctors’ offices unless symptoms became severe. The sad reality of this well-intentioned guidance was that sick, infected patients arrived to the hospital too late for any treatment to be successful. Thus, significant effort and resources across the health care landscape coalesced around creating large-scale public health initiatives to limit new cases, while also safely triaging infected patients. Ultimately, routine collection and use of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) through innovative software programs were the answers to this “Catch-22”-type scenario.
In this perspective, we aim to describe the software program behind the routine collection and use of PROs to screen and triage patients—and monitor employee symptoms as well—during the COVID-19 global pandemic at a single, large, urban academic health center in the United States. Further, we discuss how similar collection and use of PROs can assist in the care of patients with a wide range of medical conditions, not just in the time of a global health crisis. (author abstract)