ABSTRACT
The clinicians writing about their observations have felt able and compelled to report the change in many of these patients and case reports of physical treatments are often the stimulus for further work proving the efficacy, if possible. Efficacy is defined as ‘the ability to produce a desired or intended result’. However, in order to measure efficacy, the desired result needs to be understood and clarified. One advantage of patient-recorded outcome measures (PROM) over clinician-judged efficacy is that they avoid observer bias. Clinical procedures using PROMs include the operations of hip and knee replacements, where in the UK National Health Service; gains after these surgical treatments are evaluated using pre- and post-operative questionnaires. In a small retrospective case review, the investigation and management of sexual pain disorders in a district gynaecology department looked at the patient management outcomes when seen by an Institute of Psychosexual Medicine (IPM)-trained gynaecologist compared to a non-IPM trained gynaecologist in an out-patient clinic.
