Is there value in routine administration of outcome questionnaires?

Study design: Retrospective case-series of prospective routinely collected Short Form 36v2 (SF-36v2) data in an outpatient spine clinic. Objective: To determine if there is value in routine administration of outcome questionnaires for the patient and/or clinician without a targeted population or monitoring of follow-up. Method: Retrospective review of Health Outcomes Scoring database. Results: During an 18-month period 1,863 patients completed 3,124 SF-36v2 questionnaires. The extent of diagnoses and the uneven timing of follow-ups of the completed questionnaires render this data useless both to the patient and for aggregate analysis. Conclusion: There is no value in routine administration of outcome questionnaires to patient care or clinical research. [Table: see text]