Increasing patient involvement is becoming standard practice across healthcare in Canada, with the collection of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) serving as a common way to enhance patient-physician interactions and measure value of treatment from a patient-perspective.

Traditional PROMs collection involves the distribution of paper forms, resulting in low return rates, increased patient burden and missing data. This suggests that supplemental or alternative methods of PROMs collection are warranted. Interestingly, digital platforms allowing for the collection of electronic PROMs (ePROMs) have been shown to increase patient response rates in an orthopedic setting; however, findings are limited to patients receiving total joint replacements, they involve digital platforms not available in Canada, and they benefit greatly from additional staff (albeit at additional financial costs).

Our research proposal seeks to:

- compare response rates between paper-based PROMs and ePROMs for anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL-R), rotator cuff repair (RCR), and shoulder stabilization surgery pre-operatively and at three-weeks – with three- and six-month follow-up time points

- assess the impact of staff-facilitated ePROMs data collection.

The results from our study will inform various levels of healthcare, including at the patient/institutional, provincial, and national levels. Various divisions of healthcare are moving towards a patient-centric culture of care to ensure patients remain involved throughout treatment and rehabilitation. Given the lack of uniform PROMs collection prior to and following sports medicine orthopedic surgery, our study will provide novel evidence in support of ePROMs collection for ACL-R, RCR, and shoulder stabilization surgery that can be adopted across Manitoba and Canada.