Patient perspective : choosing or developing instruments

Previous Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) meetings recognized that patients view outcomes of intervention from a different perspective. This preconference position paper briefly sets out 2 patient-reported outcome (PRO) instrument approaches, the PROMISE computer adaptive testing (CAT) system and development of a rheumatoid arthritis-specific questionnaire to measure fatigue; a tentative proposal for a PRO instrument development pathway is also made.