Moore’s Level 6, Patient Health
Definition
The sixth level in one established outcomes framework, Moore’s Level 6 emphasizes the need to measure the change in patient health outcomes that are associated with an educational intervention. Patient health outcomes are defined as changes at the level of an individual patient or a group of patients whose care is directly attributable to a known learner.
Methods
A comparison of specific patient health data from patient charts, electronic health records (EHR), or other appropriate database patient-level health outcomes.
Secondary method: An analysis of patient responses to a health survey.
Evidence
Moore et al. JCEHP, 29(1):1–15, 2009.
Example
Three months following an educational, Learners were asked to pull 10-15 charts of their patients with heart failure documenting Patient Health Outcomes directly in the 30 days prior to the education, 30-days after, and 90-days after. These distinct datasets may serve as pre-education control, short-term post-education assessment, and long-term post-education assessment.
Additional Contextual Information:
- Please note that not everything from a chart meets the definition of Patient Health outcomes. For instance, in the HF example above, readmission and adherence would be a Level 6 outcome, while therapy choice and screening would be a Level 5 outcome.
- Since Level 6 is defined by the change in Patient Health, data should be collected before and after the educational intervention. If statistical approaches are being applied, one must understand the limitations of such approaches.
- For all practical purposes the distinction between Moore’s Level 6 and Moore’s Level 7 (defined elsewhere in the glossary) is minor. The details of the intervention and the methods to measure change require a much greater level of rigor and sophistication, and reporting the outcomes of Level 6 and Level 7 should include specific details of the rationale, implementation, and analysis in keeping with those expected by peer-reviewed publications.